Available for the first time in 20 years, here are two important works from the 1920s by the best-known representative of the Vienna Circle.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Excerpt from Worterbuch der Philosophischen Begriffe, Vol. 1: Historisch-Quellenmassig Bearbeitet; A bis N Die Anordnung des Materials ist so getroffen worden, dafs in erster Linie die Ubersichtlichkeit des Stoffes gesichert wurde. Die logisch - systematische und die chronologisch-genetische Dispositions weise wurden nach Moglichkeit miteinander combiniert. Auf allzu subtile Einteilungen kam es hier, in einem Worterbuchs, nicht so sehr an, verfuhrt doch eine solche, die gewohnlich durch allerhand Voraussetzungen und Annahmen bedingt ist, selbst also den Charakter einer Theorie, einer Hypothese hat, (...) zur Subjectiviernug der Darstellung, wahrend doch dem Herausgeber au moglichster Objectivitat lag; diese ist denn auch von der Kritik anerkannt werden. Den eigenen Standpunkt, den der Fachmann als einen in so mancher Beziehung selbstandigen erkennen wird, hat der Herausgeber in den an der Spitze der einzelnen Artikel stehenden Begriffs. Bestimmungen zwar kurz, pracis, aber, wie er glaubt, nicht nu wissenschaftlich, entwickelt. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.". (shrink)

Wittgenstein, possibly the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century, is often labelled a Neopositivist, a New-Kantian, even a Sceptic. Questions on Wittgenstein , first published in 1988, presents a selection of nine essays investigating a matter of vital philosophical importance: Wittgenstein’s relationship to his Austrian predecessors and peers. The intention throughout is to determine the precise contours of Wittgenstein’s own thought by situating it within its formative context. Although it remains of particular interest to Anglo-Saxon philosophers, special familiarity with (...) Austrian philosophy is required to appreciate the subtle and profound influence which this cultural and philosophical setting had on Wittgenstein’s intellectual development. Professor Haller has spent his career exploring these themes, and is one of the foremost authorities on both Wittgenstein and contemporary Austrian philosophy. Questions on Wittgenstein thus offers a unique insight into the twentieth-century tradition of Austrian philosophy, and its importance for Wittgenstein’s thought. (shrink)

The concept of event provides the essential bridge from the realm of virtuality of the quantum state to real phenomena in space and time. We ask how much we can gather from existing theory about the localization of an event and point out that decoherence and coarse graining—though important—do not suffice for a consistent interpretation without the additional principle of random realization.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Das Wissen, nach dem die Menschen streben, ist oft nur jenes Mindestmaß, dessen sie bedürfen, um ihr Leben zu fristen. Aber nicht alle Menschen begnügen sich damit. Es gab und es gibt einige, die auch in einem stärkeren und höheren Sinn neugierig sind. Sie empfinden das Bedürfnis, über eine einmal erreichte Stufe ihrer Kenntnisse und Einsichten hinauszukommen. Daher denken sie über Mittel und Methoden nach, die sie bis dahin verwendet haben, und sie trachten danach, jene zu verbessern. Auch verschaffen sie (...) sich Klarheit darüber, was ihnen bis jetzt Erfolg brachte, und sie erkennen, daß es am besten ist, in der bewährten Weise fortzufahren. Es wird ihnen aber auch klar, was sie dar an gehindert hatte, noch erfolgreicher zu sein. Daß sie immer bewußter und immer kritischer werden, ist daher unvermeid lich. Manches, was früher als "Wissen" galt, wird jetzt verworfen. Aber nicht immer be bewahrt und ausgebaut und was aufgegeben werden muß; steht Einigkeit darüber, was denn was Erfolg und was Mißerfolg ist, wird nicht von sämtlichen Beobachtern in gleicher Weise beurteilt. Oft gilt dem einen als Wissen, was der andere für ein Hirngespinst hält; häufig ist gerade das, was der eine am höchsten schätzt und als "absolute" oder "ewige" Wahrheit verehrt, dem anderen fragwürdig oder lächerlich. Damit beschreibe ich nicht nur vergangene, sondern auch gegenwärtige Zu stände. Wir alle wissen, daß gerade in unserer Zeit die krassesten Gegensätze herrschen. (shrink)

Es ist unbestritten, dass Kant dem Verhaltnis von Wissen und Glauben besondere philosophische Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet hat und seine Verhaltnisbestimmung von Glauben und Wissen einen Meilenstein in der neuzeitlichen Religionsphilosophie markiert. Seine differenzierte philosophische Grundlegung des Glaubens erweist sich nach wie vor als sehr aktuell und hochst lehrreich, auch wenn seine Glaubens-Analysen in gegenwartigen religionsphilosophischen Bemuhungen weithin vernachlassigt - oder lediglich philosophie-historisch verortet - werden. Doch nur auf den ersten Blick sind Kants mannigfaltige Ausserungen zum Thema Glauben, den er bekanntlich als (...) Vernunftglauben bestimmte, in der Sache deckungsgleich; bei genauerem Hinsehen zeigen sich vielmehr denkwurdige sachliche Verschiebungen und Nuancierungen. Ausgehend von einer bemerkenswerten fruhen Reflexion Kants, die die Selbsterhaltung der Vernunft als Fundament des Vernunftglaubens charakterisiert, spricht offenbar vieles dafur, dass dieses Programm der Selbsterhaltung der Vernunft sich selbst erst in verschiedenen - teleologisch interpretierbaren - Gestalten dieses Vernunftglaubens auf dem Weg von der Kritik zur eigentlichen, d. h. praktischdogmatischen Metaphysik und dem darin vollzogenen Uberschritt zum Ubersinnlichen entfaltet und realisiert. (shrink)

Of all of his works, The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity is the one that Steiner himself believed would have the longest life and the greatest spiritual and cultural consequences. It was written as a phenomenological account of the results of observing the human soul according to the methods of natural science. This seminal work asserts that free spiritual activity - understood as the human ability to think and act independently of physical nature - is the suitable path for human beings (...) today to gain true knowledge of themselves and of the universe. This is not merely a philosophical volume, but rather a warm, heart-oriented guide to the practice and experience of living thinking. Readers will not find abstract philosophy here, but a step-by-step account of how a person may come to experience living, intuitive thinking - the conscious experience of a purely spiritual content. During the past hundred years since it was written, many have tried to discover this new thinking that could help us understand the various spiritual, ecological, social, political, and philosophical issues facing us. But only Rudolf Steiner laid out a path that leads from ordinary thinking to the level of pure spiritual activity - intuitive thinking - in which we become co-creators and co-redeemers of the world. When, with the help of Steiner's book, we recognize that thinking is an essentially spiritual activity, we discover that it can school us. In that sense - Steiner's sense - thinking is a spiritual path (Gertrude Reif Hughes). (shrink)

From the Christian perspective, creation exists through the Word of God. The Word of God does not create God again but brings forth the absolute “otherness” of God: creation. The nature of God is to exist. God is existence as unity in the diversity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The gift of created existence reflects the triune nature of the Word of God. It is synthesis of diversity into unity that creates. Nature brings forth new (...) existence by unifying what it already brought forth previously. Therefore, the creative process of nature is self‐similar and nonlinear: self‐similar because at all levels it is synthesis that brings forth novelty; nonlinear because the properties of the new unities are not present in their (isolated) elements. The new properties of the wholes, however, do not destroy the properties of the parts. Rather, the elements integrated into new wholes become creatively transformed. This is because the parts become carriers of the whole, which transforms the parts through its presence. The parts become and express the qualities of the whole, qualities that the parts do not possess in isolation. Synthesis, therefore, transforms the parts creatively, because synthesis is creative. The qualities of the parts become “elevated” because the whole becomes present in and through the parts. The understanding of creation as the result of sequential, creative transformations offers a glance into the mystery of the Word of God present in the Eucharist. Here, too, the elements of bread and wine are not destroyed but elevated, creatively transformed into the Word of God. The elements (bread and wine) become the carrier of a transcendent “quality,” the Word of God. From this perspective, creation and the sacrament of the Eucharist illuminate each other. This is because the Word of God that creates the otherness of creation and the Word of God present in the Eucharist is the same. (shrink)