Abstract
In this paper I consider Otto Neurath’s late discussion of the political and social context of Plato’s Republic, especially how Neurath conceived them in the 1940s. Neurath’s argumentation is contrasted with the ideas of Karl Popper, both with regard to the latter’s reading of Plato and to his general methodology. The distinction between Neurath’s treatments of epistemology and politics is also discussed, by highlighting how these two were interwoven in the discussion, and how they differentiated Neurath’s articles from Popper’s considerations in the Open Society.
En hommage to Robert S. Cohen , recently deceased
To Philippe Soulez for and before whom this text was to be presented
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
For the relation between politics and philosophy, see the chapters of Günther Sandner and Don Howard in the present volume.
- 2.
Crossma n, as the author of Plato To-day, he is the first to have contraposed Plato’s Republic with contemporary political issues. He accuses the Republic of being a “polite form of fascism”: “The more I read the Republic” Crossman (1937, 190) writes, “the more I hate it.” Cornford (1941) refers to this in his Republic of Plato.
- 3.
Levinson (1953), in his Defense of Plato, argues against Popper’s and Neurath’s imputation of a Nazi-type thesis of eugenics to Plato.
- 4.
A term usually having a negative connotation in countries of German language or culture, as I was able to confirm: It is striking that Neurath and Popper used it with the positive tone of a verifiable project conceived by a social and political philosopher. Victor Goldschmidt (1970) refers to it in a note about “utopia,” as being a key-term of a “piecemeal” rather than “holist” program of social technique in Popper’s case – in reference to Popper’s Poverty of Historicism (1957).
- 5.
This is information I received personally from Marie Neurath, during private consultations that soon became friendly chats, when she was kind enough to receive me at her home in London on March 3 and 4, 1983. My thanks go to this great lady who has since died, and to Bob Cohen who introduced me to her in 1982. On Neurath’s early years and his relation to Meyer see Sandner (2014b, 45–48).
- 6.
On Neurath’s relation to Otto Bauer see Cartwright, Cat, Fleck and Uebel (1996, Part I).
- 7.
Neurath’s English years is described by Sander (2011) and Michelle Henning’s, Silke Körber’s, and Adam Tamas Tuboly’s chapters in the present volume.
- 8.
- 9.
On this subject see Goldschmidt (1970), particularly the section, “Quarrels over Platonism.”
- 10.
The book was first published in German in 1928 as Platon als Hüter des Lebens. In the introduction to the 3rd edition (1965) there is a significant “state of research” on Plato, citing Windelband , Taylor , Jules Stenzel , P. Friedlander , C. Ritter , W. Jaeger , L. Robin , G. Kruger , E. Hoffmann , H. Herter , all from publications or reeditions dating between 1928 and 1950, as well as comments on the favorable reception of his book of 1928, especially in Hans Leisegang’s “La signification actuelle de Platon.”
- 11.
Francis Galton , nineteenth century physiologist who – with Gobineau and Mendel – established bases for eugenics or racial purification. He is known for his table of men of great talent, and is the author of Hereditary Genius. Neurath (1921/1973, 179) cites him in reference to an “archetypal” method used by Spengler to derive forms of culture, in his Anti-Spengler. Galton is rather well estimated, cited with Goethe by Neurath and even by Wittgenstein as a forerunner of ideas on family resemblance.
- 12.
And he adds several titles (by W. Braeucker, H. Siemans …) useful in examining this domain.
- 13.
Precisely since 1963, following work by the fashionable geneticists like Hans Nachtscheim, author of one of the statements on eugenics, in the newspaper Die Welt of May 1965.
- 14.
“On the continent, things are different, for the tradition of scholarship differs somewhat from the tradition over here. When a German philosopher characterized Hitler’s advent as the victory of Platonism, he was expressing wide felt sentiments […]” (Neurath and Lauwerys 1944, 575).
- 15.
It should be noted, that Joad (1950) later accused logical positivism (especially A. J. Ayer’s famous Language, Logic, and Truth) of ensuring a positive atmosphere for fascism in Oxford.
- 16.
A myth very often cited by German eugenists; Cf. Gunther (1965) in which German eugenics found fuel for their myth of “blood and earth” (Blut und Boden).
- 17.
Gold (authority) is distinguished from silver (auxiliaries to authorities) and from iron and copper (peasants and working classes).
- 18.
“Accuracy and morality alike are on the side of the plain saying that our word is our bond” (Austin 1962, 10).
- 19.
“Manifesto of Intellectuals” read June 20, 1915 at an assembly of German professors, diplomats and officials in Berlin’s Künstlerhaus. Unpublished, it circulated as a “strictly confidential document” signed by 1341 supporters (352 university scholars, 158 schoolmasters and clergymen, 148 judges, 252 artists, writers and editors), not counting the popular support which would have meant free circulation of the Manifesto in the countryside, fief od the “Junkers” (Who formed a real class together with the landowners, manufacturers and big industrialists in the Rhine-Westphalian region). Cf. Bevan (1918).
- 20.
On Neurath’s economy see Uebel (2004) and his chapter in the present volume.
- 21.
Neurath’s background is explained in details by Sandner (2014b) and in his chapter in the present volume.
- 22.
The Poverty of Historicism was first published as articles in the journal Economica in 1944-45.
- 23.
I discussed this myth in a lecture entitled “The Sophism of Belonging to the Race,” at a symposium, “Is the word ‘race’ superfluous in the French constitution?” Senate and Sorbonne, 27–28 March, 1992. See Soulez (1992).
- 24.
The pyramidal classifications, inherited from Comte , Spencer , Wundt , are still to be found in Wilhelm Ostwald. On Ostwald’s ideas in the context of logical empiricism see Dahms (2016).
- 25.
- 26.
At this point, Neurath refers to his “International Planning for Freedom.” See Neurath (1942/1973). His most detailed discussion of democracy (and its relation to pedagogy) is to be found in his posthumously published manuscript, “Visual Education: Humanisation versus Popularisation.” See Neurath (1996).
- 27.
Lack of competence in a precise approach to Neurath’s economy makes me prefer to leave this area to connoisseurs. Clearly, Neurath’s idea of freedom, although strongly marked by the Epicurean idea of happiness, requires some technical precisions in economy. Controlled finance demands economic administration, with a distinction between state economy and the democratic social order which must be directed towards the happiness of the individual, and not exclusively the group to the detriment of the individual. Lastly, a socialist economy as he understands it ceases to depend on money as its operating force. It excludes profit and must control finance even if that function cannot, by definition, be socialized. Cf. for example Neurath (1919/1973).
- 28.
This plan is translated for the first time into French as well as the article on Neurath’s text “The lost wanderer of Descartes and the Auxiliary Motive” in our special issue on Neurath: Otto Neurath un philosophe entre science et guerre, Cahiers de philosophie du langage, n° 2, en hommage à Philippe Soulez, in coll. with Elisabeth Nemeth (University of Vienna), 1997, publ. L’Harmattan.
References
Annas, Julia. 1981. An Introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Austin, John L. 1962. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Bevan, Edwyn. 1918. The Pan-German Program. London: Allen & Unwin.
Bloch, Ernst. 1918/2000. The Spirit of Utopia. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bouveresse, Jacques. 1978. Bertrand Russell, La Sagesse, La Politique et le Reste. Le Monde, 21 February 1978.
Cartwright, Nancy, Jordi Cat, Lola Fleck, and Thomas Uebel. 1996. Otto Neurath: Philosophy Between Science and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Clark, Ronald W. 1976. The Life of Bertrand Russell. New York: Alfred Knopf.
Cornford, Francis M. 1941. The Republic of Plato. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Crossman, Richard. 1937. Plato To-Day. London: G. Allen and Unwin.
Dahms, Hans-Joachim. 2016. Carnap’s Early Conception of a ‘System of All Concepts’: The Importance of Wilhelm Ostwald. In Influences on the Aufbau, ed. Christian Damböck, 163–185. Cham: Springer.
Freudenthal, Gideon. 1989. Otto Neurath from Authoritarian Liberalism to Empiricism. In Knowledge and Politics, ed. M. Dascal and O. Gruengard, 207–240. Westwood: Westwood Press.
Goldschmidt, Victor. 1970. Platonisme et pensée contemporaine. Paris: Aubier Montaigne.
Günther, Hans F. K. 1965. Platon eugéniste et vitaliste. Éditions Pardès.
Joad, C.E.M. 1950. A Critique of Logical Positivism. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd..
Kallen, Horace. 1940. The Meanings of ‘Unity’ Among the Sciences. Educational Administration and Supervision 26 (2): 81–97.
Levinson, Ronald B. 1953. Defense of Plato. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Neurath, Otto. 1904/2004. Interest on Money in Antiquity. In Economic Writings. Selections 1904–1945, ed. Thomas Uebel and Robert S. Cohen, 111–119. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
———. 1906–1907. Zur Anschauung der Antike über Handel, Gewerbe und Landwirtschaft. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, 3rd ser., 32 (1906): 577–606 and 34 (1907): 145–205.
———. 1909/2004. Economic History of Antiquity [Excerpts]. In Economic Writings. Selections 1904–1945, ed. Thomas Uebel and Robert S. Cohen, 120–152. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
———. 1913/1983. The Lost Wanderers of Descartes and the Auxiliary Motive. In Otto Neurath: Philosophical Papers 1913–1946, ed. Robert S. Cohen and Marie Neurath, 1–12. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
———. 1919/1973. Utopia as a Social Engineer’s Construction. In Empiricism and Sociology, ed. Marie Neurath and Robert S. Cohen, 150–155. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
———. 1921. Jüdische Planwirtschaft in Palestina. (Signed as Karl Wilhelm.) Berlin.
———. 1921/1973. Anti-Spengler. In Empiricism and Sociology, ed. Marie Neurath and Robert S. Cohen, 158–213. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
———. 1942/1973. International Planning for Freedom. In Empiricism and Sociology, ed. Marie Neurath and Robert S. Cohen, 422–440. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
———. 1946/1983. The Orchestration of the Sciences by the Encyclopedism of Logical Empiricism. In Otto Neurath: Philosophical Papers 1913-1946, ed. Robert S. Cohen and Marie Neurath, 230–242. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
———. 1996. Visual Education: Humanisation versus Popularisation. In Encyclopedia and Utopia. The Life and Work of Otto Neurath (1882–1945), ed. Elisabeth Nemeth and Friedrich Stadler, 245–335. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Neurath, Otto, and Joseph A. Lauwerys. 1944. Nazi-Textbooks and the Future. The Journal of Education 76 (904): 521–522; (95): 574–576.
———. 1945. Plato’s Republic and German Education. The Journal of Education 77: 57–59, 222–224, 394.
Popper, Karl. 1945/1966. The Open Society and Its Enemies. Volume 1: Plato. London: Routledge.
———. 1957. The Poverty of Historicism. London: Routledge.
———. 1973. On Otto Neurath. In Empiricism and Sociology, ed. Marie Neurath and Robert S. Cohen, 51–56. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
Reisch, George. 2005. How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science: To the Icy Slopes of Logic. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sandner, Günther. 2011. The German Climate and Its Opposite: Otto Neurath in England, 1940-45. In Political Exile and Exile Politics in Britain After 1933, ed. A. Grenville and A. Reiter, 67–85. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.
———. 2014a. Political Polyphony. Otto Neurath and Politics Reconsidered. In European Philosophy of Science – Philosophy of Science in Europe and the Viennese Heritage, ed. Maria Carla Galavotti, Elisabeth Nemeth, and Friedrich Stadler, 211–222. Dordrecht: Springer.
———. 2014b. Otto Neurath. Eine politische Biographie. Wien: Zsolnay.
Soulez, Antonia. 1988. La construction des utopies comme tâche de l’Ingénieur Social, selon O. Neurath en 1919. In Les Philosophes et la guerre de 14, ed. Philippe Soulez and Etienne Balibar, 237–250. Saint-Denis: Presses universitaires de Vincennes.
———. 1992. Dire non au sophisme de l’appartenance à la race. Mots. Les langages du politique 33: 23–33.
Stuchlik, Joshua. 2011. Felicitology: Neurath’s Naturalization of Ethics. HOPOS 1 (2): 183–208.
Uebel, Thomas. 2004. Neurath’s Economics in Critical Context. In Economic Writings. Selections 1904–1945, ed. Thomas Uebel and Robert S. Cohen, 1–108. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. 1975. Le mirage grec á l’époque des Lumières. Esprit 12.
Acknowledgement
My thanks go to Jacqueline Kiang for the original English translation, and also for Thomas Uebel’s earlier revising. I am especially indebted to Elisabeth Nemeth. This is a slightly updated and extended version of an earlier paper that appeared in 1999.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Soulez, A. (2019). Does Understanding Mean Forgiveness? Otto Neurath and Plato’s “Republic” in 1944–45. In: Cat, J., Tuboly, A. (eds) Neurath Reconsidered. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 336. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02128-3_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02128-3_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02127-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02128-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)