DOCSLIB.ORG

EPSA Newsletter Vol

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
EPSA Newsletter Vol EPSA Newsletter Vol. II, Issue 1 August 2013 Editor: Friedrich Stadler | Assistant Editor: Daniel Kuby The Finnish Tradition of important intellectual trends like first textbooks on logic and psychol- Philosophy of Science scholastic and Ramistic logic, Carte- ogy in Finnish in the 1880s. His logic sianism, Bacon´s experimental includes classical ideas about the Ilkka Niiniluoto methods, Locke’s empiricism, scientific method. Rein’s work as Wolff’s rationalism, and Kant’s tran- professor of Theoretical Philosophy scendental idealism. was continued in 1905 by his nephew Arvi Grotenfelt, a specialist in Ger- Logic has a long academic tradition In 1809 Finland was separated from man neo-Kantian philosophy of his- in Finland as a subfield of Theoreti- Sweden to become a Grand Duchy of tory, influenced by the method of cal Philosophy. Logicians have al- the Russian empire, and in 1828 the Verstehen. Edward Westermarck, ways had an interest in the scientific Academy was moved to the new who was at the same time professor method, but the study of the phi- capital Helsinki. The Imperial Alex- of Practical Philosophy in Helsinki losophy of science in the modern ander University in Helsinki adopted and professor of Sociology at the sense was started in Finland in the the Humboldtian model of university London School of Economics, stud- 1920s by Eino Kaila. In the 1950s his education. This period was domi- ied the origins and evolution of successful students made Helsinki nated by Hegel’s doctrines, with Jo- moral ideas along the lines of British an important centre of analytic phi- han Vilhelm Snellman as the main empiricism and naturalism. losophy, philosophical logic, phi- representative. His 1842 theory of losophy of language, and philosophy the state, based upon Hegelian prin- In 1917 Finland gained its independ- of science. This work has now been ciples, provided a theoretical foun- ence, and the Philosophical Society vigorously continued by several gen- dation to the national awakening of of Finland (chaired by Grotenfelt) erations. Finland. In 1852 all chairs in phi- started to publish its yearbook with losophy in the Russian empire were the title Ajatus (“Thought”) in 1926 Historical Background closed as politically dangerous, and and a monograph series Acta Philo- in 1856 Snellman was invited to the sophica Fennica in 1935. When the first university in Finland renamed chair of “ethics and the sys- was established in 1640 as the Royal tem of the sciences”. Eino Kaila’s Logical Empiricism Academy of Turku, its Faculty of Arts had two chairs in Philosophy: As the only professor in philosophy Eino Kaila, who wrote his doctoral Theoretical (teaching logic and in Finland, Snellman was succeeded dissertation in experimental psy- metaphysics) and Practical (teaching in 1869 by his student Thiodolf Rein. chology in 1916, had broad interests ethics and politics). Thereby the He founded in 1873 the Philosophi- in philosophy. His early essays are learned community, in spite of its cal Society of Finland, and wrote the critical reviews of Haeckel, Bergson, lack of originality, was able to follow 3. PAGE (OF 14) ◆ Niiniluoto, Ilkka: “The Finnish Tradition of Philosophy of Science”, epsa-Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 1, © 2013, pp. 3–7.! www.epsa.ac.at/newsletter/ THE FINNISH TRADITION IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Ilkka Niiniluoto and James. In 1920 he argued, ticipant in the international confer- formulating a realist and compre- against vitalism, that mental life is a ences of the unity of science. As pro- hensive world outlook on the basis of biological phenomenon. As an anti- fessor of Theoretical Philosophy in best scientific theories, especially reductionist monist, Kaila was at- Helsinki in 1930-48, Kaila intro- holistic “field theories” like quantum tracted by Mach’s ideas, but con- duced to his academic audience physics and Gestalt psychology. But cluded that the phenomenalist posi- symbolic logic, modern epis- his work was isolated tion has to be replaced by critical temology and philosophy of from the new Anglo- realism which accepts the reality of science, and Gestalt psy- Saxon school of phi- both ordinary physical objects and chology. However, he never losophy of science: atoms. A radical defence of Mach accepted the narrowly posi- Kaila did not publish came from Rolf Lagerborg, a student tivist views of some mem- in English, and the and friend of Westermarck’s. bers of the Vienna Circle, but first translations of his wished to solve the riddle of studies appeared in In the mid-1920s Kaila sough con- reality. In his German 1974 in a volume Ex- tacts by correspondence with Rei- monographs in 1936 and Eino Kaila perience and Reality in chenbach, Schlick, and Carnap. As 1942, and in his widely read the Vienna Circle Col- the first professor of philosophy at Finnish textbook Inhimillinen tieto lection. But it was through Kaila’s the new Finnish University of Turku, (Human Knowledge, 1939), he tried successful students that the analytic he started a series of monographs in to analyze the concept of reality by tradition became the dominant German on causality, probability means of the concept of invariance. school in Finland. logic, deduction, and philosophy of nature. Already in 1926 Kaila charac- Georg Henrik von Wright wrote his terized his position as “logical em- doctoral dissertation in 1941 on the piricism”, as a contrast to psycho- logical problem of induction, and logical empiricism. In 1929-34 he continued with important contribu- made three longer visits to the Vi- tions to probability and eliminative enna Circle. This association with induction. The young von Wright’s the new movement with exact meth- period as Wittgenstein’s successor at ods was a major change of Finnish the University of Cambridge in 1948- philosophy. Kaila was an active par- 51 was the real international break- through of Finnish philosophers. After returning to Finland von Wright was elected in 1961 as a member of the Academy of Finland. He wrote studies in philosophical Kaila, who succeeded Grotenfelt as logic, modal logic, and action theory, the president of the Philosophical and became the founder of modern Society of Finland in 1936-52, was deontic logic. In 1971 he published elected as one of the twelve members his Explanation and Understanding, of the Academy of Finland in 1948. which departs from the logical em- In the same year psychology was piricist thesis of the unity of science separated from Theoretical Philoso- by its claim that the explanation of phy at the University of Helsinki. action cannot be given by the Kaila continued to his death in 1958 deductive-nomological model but the “synthetic” task of philosophy in human actions have to be intention- 4. PAGE (OF 14)! THE FINNISH TRADITION IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Ilkka Niiniluoto ally understood by practical reason- scientific inquiry, based on informa- ing. He also defended a manipula- Erik Stenius, Swedish-language pro- tion- seeking questions. tion notion of causality. This work fessor of philosophy in Helsinki, on analytic hermeneutics forged made his main contributions in logic connections between analytic phi- and the philosophy of language, but losophy and Continental trends. his careful “critical essays” included As an Academician, von Wright did topics related to the philosophy of not have teaching duties, but he mathematics and physics. chaired in Helsinki an important research seminar for foreign visitors Jaakko Hintikka and his Students and younger scholars. G. H. von Wright’s student Jaakko Hintikka wrote his dissertation in 1953 on distributive normal forms in first-order logic. In 1957 he discov- ered (independently of the Swedish logician Stig Kanger) the possible worlds semantics, and in 1962 he published his pioneering study of epistemic logic, Knowledge and Be- Hintikka has been extremely active lief. After a fellowship at Harvard in stimulating and supervising re- University in 1956-59, Hintikka was search work in logic and philosophy, and many of his students have be- Georg H. von Wright appointed professor of Practical Phi- losophy in Helsinki 1959, and in the come university professors in Fin- Oiva Ketonen studied proof theory in 1960s he shared his time between land. Risto Hilpinen (professor in 1938-39 in Göttingen with Gerhard Helsinki and Stanford University. In Turku, later in Miami), Juhani Pie- Gentzen. His doctoral dissertation in 1965 he published an improvement tarinen (professor in Turku), and 1944 contained an invertible system of Carnap’s system of inductive logic Ilkka Niiniluoto (Ketonen’s succes- of sequence calculus, which was a by showing how universal generali- sor in Helsinki) wrote their doctoral remarkable improvement of zations may receive non-zero prob- dissertations on inductive logic, thus Gentzen’s results. Ketonen became abilities in infinite universes. Later continuing “the Finnish school of Kaila’s successor in Theoretical Phi- Hintikka worked in Helsinki as a induction” started already by Kaila losophy in 1951-77. During his visit Research Professor at the Academy and von Wright. Raimo Tuomela in 1949-50 to the United States he of Finland, but after 1980 he has (professor of the methodology of the had met Hempel at Yale and Nagel at been mostly active in the United social sciences in Helsinki) applied Columbia University (New York). States (Tallahassee, Boston). Hin- distributive normal forms to study With these influences he gave annu- tikka has been one of the most suc- the methodological gains due to ally a course on philosophy of sci- cessful editors of philosophical jour- theoretical concepts. Later he con- ence which included the standard nals (Synthese) and monograph se- centrated in philosophical issues of view of analytic philosophy of sci- ries (Synthese Library). Besides his social action. Veikko Rantala (pro- ence. Ketonen did not have original studies in the philosophy of mathe- fessor in Tampere) wrote important results in philosophy of science, but matics, philosophy of language, and studies on theories and theory- his role as a teacher of many genera- game-theoretical semantics, he has change with David Pearce.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Diss2008kaipainen.Pdf (1.200Mb)
    Suurten ajattelijoiden elämäkerrat ja elämänpolut Suurten ajattelijoiden elämäkerrat ja elämänpolut Bertrand Russellin, Ludwig Wittgensteinin ja Georg Henrik von Wrightin elämäkerrat bourdieulais-pragmatististen ja latourilaisten näkökulmien vertailussa Päivi Kaipainen KOULUTUSSOSIOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS, RUSE RESEARCH UNIT FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION, RUSE Koulutussosiologian tutkimuskeskuksen raportti 74 Kansi: Minna Rauhala ISSN 1235-9114 ISBN 951-29-3729-5 UNIPRINT, Turku 2008 Kiitokset Haluan aivan ensiksi kiittää esimiestäni ja ohjaajaani professori Osmo Kivistä mahdollisuudesta tehdä väitöskirjatyötä varsinaisen työni ohella Koulutussosiologian tutkimuskeskuksen koordinaattorina. Haluan myös kiittää häntä sekä kannustuksesta että rakentavasta kritiikistä, molemmat ovat olleet yhtä tarpeellisia. Työni esitarkastajina toimivat professori Risto Heiskala Tampereen yliopistosta ja dosentti Keijo Rahkonen Helsingin yliopistosta. Kiitän heitä käsikirjoitukseni läpikäymiseen uhraamastaan ajasta ja monista hyvistä korjausehdotuksista. Heidän kommenttinsa herättivät uusia ajatuksia ja auttoivat toivon mukaan parantamaan työni lopullista versiota. Kiitokset kuuluvat myös työtovereille, ystäville ja sukulaisille, jotka vahvistivat uskoani siihen, että työ vielä jonakin päivänä valmistuu ja on uurastuksen arvoinen. Turussa, 23. lokakuuta 2008 Päivi Kaipainen SISÄLLYSLUETTELO 1. JOHDANTO…………………………………………………….. 9 Tutkimuksen viitekehys………………………………………………….. 11 Elämäkertatutkimuksesta……………………………………............. 19 Bourdieulais–pragmatistinen lähestymistapa
    [Show full text]
  • Ilkka Niiniluoto PHILOSOPHY in FINLAND
    Ilkka Niiniluoto PHILOSOPHY IN FINLAND: INTERNATIONAL CURRENTS AND NATIONAL CULTURAL DEBATES Philosophy is originally a product of Greek higher culture, which has been practised in Finland primarily as an academic discipline. According to a tradition starting from J. V. Snellman, Finnish philosophers have, besides their own research work, participated in public cultural debates and political life. In a small nation many leading thinkers have become generally well-known public figures. From 1313 onwards Finnish students attended the medieval University of Paris, where they had a chance to learn the scholastic way of integrating Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy. In the sixteenth century the Finns studied the humanism of German reformation and the Renaissance philosophy of nature. In the Academy of Turku, founded in 1640, philosophy had a significant position in the basic studies, which included conceptual distinctions and the art of thinking (theoretical philosophy) as well as moral virtues and political principles (practical philosophy). During the Turku period, which ended when the university moved to Helsinki in 1828, Finnish philosophers did not gain notable original achievements, but their role was primarily to support learning and transmit new academic currents to the academic community. Among them one can mention Cartesianism based on the ideas René Descartes and Francis Bacon´s experimental research method at the end of the seventeenth century, and along the eighteenth century Christian Wolff’s rationalism, John Locke’s empiricism, Samuel Pufendorf’s doctrine of natural rights, and Immanuel Kant’s transcendental idealism. Snellman: from Hegel to national awakening It was eventually the breakthrough of G. W. F.
    [Show full text]
  • EPSA Newsletter 2013
    EPSA Newsletter Vol. II, Issue 1 August 2013 Editor: Friedrich Stadler | Assistant Editor: Daniel Kuby SPECIAL EPSA13 HELSINKI EDITION Editorial TABLE OF CONTENTS Friedrich Stadler Editorial Friedrich Stadler 1 Dear members and colleagues, The Finnish Tradition of Philosophy of Science Ilkka Niiniluoto 3 On the occasion of the 4th Conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association in Helsinki, August 28-31, 2013, we are pleased to publicize the Welcome Address already third issue of our electronic EPSA Newsletter. Given the venue of the Uskali Mäki 8 conference it is mainly dealing with philosophy of science in Finland, which is a remarkable success story since the pioneering Eino Kaila for a smaller coun- EPSA Women’s Caucus: A Report try at the margins of Europe. In this regard we are pleased that Jaakko Hin- Kristina Rolin 10 tikka will also take part as a speaker in this event. Report on One of the contemporary prominent proponents of philosophy of science, GWP.2013 Ilkka Niiniluoto, the former Rector and Chancellor of the University of Hel- Holger Lyre 11 sinki in the last decade, provided a report on the origins and development of Report on Activities philosophy of science in Finland, where in 2015 also the 15th Congress of the of the Dutch Society International Union in History and Philosophy of Science/Division of Logic, for the Philosophy of Methodology and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS/DLMPS) will be organised. A Science report by Uskali Mäki, the chair of the Local Organising Committee on behalf F. A . M u l l e r 13 of the University of Helsinki and the Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences (TINT) complements this focus appropriately.
    [Show full text]
  • Passmore, J. (1967). Logical Positivism. in P. Edwards (Ed.). the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Vol. 5, 52- 57). New York: Macmillan
    Passmore, J. (1967). Logical Positivism. In P. Edwards (Ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Vol. 5, 52- 57). New York: Macmillan. LOGICAL POSITIVISM is the name given in 1931 by A. E. Blumberg and Herbert Feigl to a set of philosophical ideas put forward by the Vienna circle. Synonymous expressions include "consistent empiricism," "logical empiricism," "scientific empiricism," and "logical neo-positivism." The name logical positivism is often, but misleadingly, used more broadly to include the "analytical" or "ordinary language philosophies developed at Cambridge and Oxford. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The logical positivists thought of themselves as continuing a nineteenth-century Viennese empirical tradition, closely linked with British empiricism and culminating in the antimetaphysical, scientifically oriented teaching of Ernst Mach. In 1907 the mathematician Hans Hahn, the economist Otto Neurath, and the physicist Philipp Frank, all of whom were later to be prominent members of the Vienna circle, came together as an informal group to discuss the philosophy of science. They hoped to give an account of science which would do justice -as, they thought, Mach did not- to the central importance of mathematics, logic, and theoretical physics, without abandoning Mach's general doctrine that science is, fundamentally, the description of experience. As a solution to their problems, they looked to the "new positivism" of Poincare; in attempting to reconcile Mach and Poincare; they anticipated the main themes of logical positivism. In 1922, at the instigation of members of the "Vienna group," Moritz Schlick was invited to Vienna as professor, like Mach before him (1895-1901), in the philosophy of the inductive sciences. Schlick had been trained as a scientist under Max Planck and had won a name for himself as an interpreter of Einstein's theory of relativity.
    [Show full text]
  • This Volume on the Vienna Circle's Influence in the Nordic Countries
    Vol. 8, no. 1 (2013) Category: Review essay Written by Carlo Penco This volume on the Vienna Circle’s influence in the Nordic countries gives a very interesting presentation of an almost forgotten landmark. In the years preceding the Second World War, European philosophy was at the high point of its intellectual vitality. Everywhere philosophical societies promoted a dense network of connections among scholars, with international meetings and strong links among individuals and associations. In this context, the Vienna Circle emerges as one of the many, also if probably the most well-known, centres of diffusion of a new style of philosophy, closely linked to the new logic and with a strongly empiricist attitude. At the same time, empiricism, formal logic and psychology constituted (and still constitute) the common background of most of the Nordic philosophers, a background which permitted them to develop connections with Vienna’s cultural environment (well known also for the work of psychologists such as Sigmund Freud, but also Charlotte and Karl Bühler). This piece of history, although limited to the connection between Nordic philosophy and Vienna Circle, helps to clarify the history of European philosophy, and the sharp difference of Nordic philosophy in respect of the development of philosophy in Southern and Central Europe in the half a century following the Second World War. The editors say in the introduction: . one of the least known networks of the Vienna Circle is the “Nordic connection”. This connection had a continuing influence for many of the coming decades, beginning with the earliest phase of the Vienna Circle and continuing with a number of adaptations and innovations well into contemporary times.
    [Show full text]
  • Kaila for Yearbook
    Ilkka Niiniluoto, Sami Pihlström (eds.), Reappraisals of Eino Kaila’s Philosophy. Acta Philosophica Fennica vol. 89, Societas Philosophica Fennica, Helsinki, 232pp., 30 €, ISBN 978–951–9264–75–2, ISSN 0355–1792. Eino Kaila (1890 – 1958) was the leading Finnish philosopher in the decades between 1930 and 1960. Nevertheless, for several decades he was internationally not very well-known since he published only in Finnish and German. This situation is changing. Meanwhile a considerable part of his work has been translated into English. Moreover, in the last twenty years or so, a considerable amount of secondary literature on Kaila (often in English) has been produced. I’d just like to mention the following sources: 1. Eino Kaila and Logical Empiricism (1992);1 2. Analytic Philosophy in Finland (2003);2 3. The Vienna Circle in the Nordic Countries (2010).3 For every reader who is seriously interested in 20th century Finnish philosophy these books are obligatory reading. Most of the publications collected in these volumes conceive of Kaila as an analytical philosopher - although already in 1992 Hintikka pointed out that this holds only with some important qualifications. In contrast, many papers in Reappraisals of Eino Kaila’s Philosophy (henceforth Reappraisals) take also into account aspects of Kaila’s thought that are related to other philosophical traditions, in particular to German Neo- kantianism and American pragmatism. From Reappraisals a richer picture of Kaila’s philosophy emerges from which it transpires that he certainly cannot be considered as an 1 Ilkka Niiniluoto, Matti Sintonen, Georg H. von Wright (eds.), Eino Kaila and Logical Empiricism, Acta Philosophica Fennica 52, Helsinki, Hakapaino Oy, 1992.
    [Show full text]
  • Wittgenstein and His Literary Executors Volume 4, Number 3 Christian Erbacher Editor in Chief Kevin C
    Journal FOR THE History OF Analytical Philosophy Wittgenstein AND His LiterARY ExECUTORS VOLUME 4, Number 3 Christian Erbacher Editor IN Chief KeVIN C. Klement, University OF Massachusetts Rush Rhees, Georg Henrik von Wright and Elizabeth Anscombe are well known as the literary executors who made Ludwig Editorial BoarD Wittgenstein’s later philosophy available to all interested read- Gary Ebbs, INDIANA University Bloomington ers. Their editions of Wittgenstein’s writings have become an GrEG Frost-Arnold, Hobart AND William Smith Colleges integral part of the modern philosophical canon. However, sur- Henry Jackman, YORK University prisingly little is known about the circumstances and reasons SandrA Lapointe, McMaster University that made Wittgenstein choose them to edit and publish his Lydia Patton, VirGINIA TECH papers. This essay sheds light on these questions by present- MarCUS Rossberg, University OF Connecticut ing the story of their personal relationships—relationships that, Mark TExtor, King’S College London on the one hand, gave Rhees, von Wright and Anscombe dis- AudrEY Yap, University OF Victoria tinct insights into Wittgenstein’s philosophizing; and, on the RicharD Zach, University OF Calgary other hand, let Wittgenstein assume that these three former stu- dents, and later colleagues and friends, were the most capable ReVIEW Editors of preparing his work for publication. Using hitherto unpub- Juliet Floyd, Boston University lished archival material as well as information from published Chris Pincock, Ohio State University recollections, the essay sketches the development of the per- sonal and philosophical bonds from which the literary heirs’ Assistant ReVIEW Editor distinct ways of handling Wittgenstein’s unpublished writings Sean Morris, MetrOPOLITAN State University OF Denver grew in later years.
    [Show full text]
  • Realistic Claims in Logical Empiricism
    Realistic Claims in Logical Empiricism Matthias Neuber Logical empiricism is commonly seen as a counter-position to scientific realism. In the pre- sent paper it is shown that there indeed existed a realist faction within the logical empiricist movement. In particular, I shall point out that at least four types of realistic arguments can be distinguished within this faction: Reichenbach’s ‘probabilistic argument,’ Feigl’s ‘pragmatic argument,’ Hempel’s ‘indispensability argument,’ and Kaila’s ‘invariantist argument.’ All these variations of arguments are intended to prevent the logical empiricist agenda from the shortcomings of radical positivism, instrumentalism, and other forms of scientific antirealism. On the whole, it will be seen that logical empiricism and scientific realism are essentially compatible with each other. Especially Kaila’s invariantist approach to science (and nature) comes quite close to what nowadays is discussed under the label ‘structural realism.’ This, in turn, necessitates a fundamental reevaluation of Kaila’s role in the logical empiricist move- ment in particular and in twentieth-century philosophy of science in general. Keywords: logical empiricism, structural realism, semantics, invariance, Eino Kaila 1 Introduction Logical Empiricism has for a long time been conceived of as a monolithic, one-dimensional, movement within early twentieth-century philosophy. As such, it frequently served as a con- trast for later, opposing viewpoints, such as scientific realism, critical rationalism, or Kuhnian historical
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Estonian Philosophy?
    What is Estonian Philosophy? Margit Sutrop Department of Philosophy, University of Tartu e purpose of this article is to inquire what should belong in an encyclopedia arti- cle entitled “Estonian philosophy,” should one ever endeavour to write it. e ques- tion “What is Estonian philosophy?” has two parts. First we have to know what we mean by the concept philosophy and aer that how we would specify Estonian phi- losophy? Relying on a Wittgensteinian approach, I will argue that philosophy is an open concept. Although all philosophical works have some resemblances to other philosophical works, it is impossible to nd criteria characteristic of all the varieties of schools and traditions in which philosophizing is carried out. Philosophy should be understood as a certain social practice. ere can, however, be a large number of dierent practices. I will show that if by Estonian philosophy we have in mind a philosophy that is originally and purely Estonian, then at this point such does not exist. If by Estonian philosophy we mean philosophy created in Estonia, regardless of the practitioners’ ethnicity and the language in which they wrote, the history of our philosophy is very rich and diverse. People of many dierent ethnicities have created philosophy in Estonia, articulating their philosophical ideas in Estonian, English, German, Latin, Russian, and Swedish. And if we broaden our concept of Estonian philosophy to also include the work of philosophers of Estonian extraction living abroad, then one could write quite a respectable article on the topic. Keywords: denition of philosophy, Estonian philosophy, philosophy in Estonia, University of Tartu, family resemblance, open concept, African philosophy, Danish philosophy, Finnish philosophy Õ.
    [Show full text]
  • The Philosophy of Logical Positivism ______
    The Philosophy of Logical Positivism ________________________________________________ Mauro Murzi Member of Società Filosofica Italiana [email protected] http://www.murzim.net 1 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction.................................................................................................5 2. The Main Philosophical Tenets of Logical Positivism...............................7 a. Verifiability Principle.............................................................................7 b. Elimination of Metaphysics...................................................................7 c. The Language of Science.......................................................................8 d. Observational and Theoretical Terms..................................................10 e. Synthetic and Analytic Statements.......................................................11 f. Probability and Inductive Logic...........................................................12 g. Ethics....................................................................................................14 3. History of Logical Positivism...................................................................15 a. Before Logical Positivism....................................................................15 b. Early Research in Europe.....................................................................17 c. The American Period............................................................................17 d. Influences on European Philosophy.....................................................18
    [Show full text]
  • Time and Polarity
    ATSO EERIKÄINEN TIME AND POLARITY The Dimensional Thinking of Karl Heim To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Helsinki, for public examination in Porthania, hall IV, on October 21, 2000 at 10 AM. ISBN 952-91-2639-5 (nid.) ISBN 952-91-2640-9 (PDF) Helsinki 2000 Yliopistopaino University of Helsinki Abstract TIME AND POLARITY THE DIMENSIONAL THINKING OF KARL HEIM by Atso Eerikäinen Astonishing discoveries in the natural sciences are opening new paths of conversation among scientists, philosophers, and theologians. It has been recognized that each of their disciplines share a common basis: a desire to make sense of the unknown and the unknowable. Opposition and “creative dissonance” are changing into dialogue and consonance. On this common basis, it is possible to improve our understanding of reality, even though we can never fully resolve the whole mystery of reality in our quest. Karl Heim (1874-1958) was one of the first theologians who deeply understood the necessity of a fundamental discussion among practitioners of science, philosophy, and theology. Heim argued that, first, we must construct an intelligible ontological, rather than epistemological, theory, although such a theory will have epistemological consequences. Heim’s dimensional doctrine was a coherent ontological theory of reality, a “theology of nature.” The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to analyze Karl Heim’s dimensional thinking in the context of philosophy, science, and theology. The main question is, is the “theology of nature”: a synthesis between the worldpicture of current natural sciences and the religious world-view possible on the ontological basis of Heim’s dimensional thinking? Two auxiliary questions are posed: What is the intension of Heim’s dimensional thinking? And what is the extension of this thinking? The most important source of this dissertation is Heim’s six-volume work, Der evangelische Glaube und das Denken der Gegenwart.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Eino Kaila's Scientific Philosophy
    [Type text] [Type text] Eino Kaila’s Scientific Philosophy (to appear in S. Pihlström – I. Niiniluoto: Eino Kaila, 120 years, Acta Philosophica Fennica, 2012) Anssi Korhonen University of Helsinki 1. Philosophically, twentieth century was in many ways the century of “scientific philosophy”. At any rate we can say, following Georg Henrik von Wright, that among all the philosophical trends of the past century, the so-called “analytic philosophy” was “the most typical of the spiritual climate of the time” (von Wright 1993: 25), a status which was due to “its alliance with the two forces which more than any other have stamped contemporary civilization: science and technology” (ibid.) As von Wright points out, however, the alliance is not characteristic of all of analytic philosophy. He quotes from a paper by Friedrich Waismann, where the author draws a sharp distinction between philosophy and science as two “fundamentally different types of attitudes of the human mind” (Waismann 1939: 265). The scientific spirit seeks knowledge or propositions which are true, an attitude which, when cultivated on a higher level, manifests itself as the formation of scientific theories. The philosophical spirit, on the other hand, does not seek true propositions but an increase in inner clarity; insofar as there has been progress in the history of philosophy, this lies not so much in results as in the formulation of questions (ibid.) The view expressed here by Waismann was accepted by many philosophers who qualify as “analytic” by some suitable criterion. Indeed, if there is such a thing as the standard picture of analytic philosophy, it is probably not very far from what Waismann describes under the rubric of “philosophical spirit”.
    [Show full text]