Reflexive Epistemology The Philosophical Legacy of Otto Neurath

Professor Danilo Zolo has written an account of Otto Neurath's epistemology which deserves careful reading by all who have studied the development of 20th century philosophy of science. Here we see the philosophical Neurath in his mature states of mind, the vigorous critic, the scientific Utopi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Zolo, D.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 1989, 1989
Edition:1st ed. 1989
Series:Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: Springer Book Archives -2004 - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
Table of Contents:
  • 1. The Problem of Assessment
  • 1. Neurath and Quine: a puzzle of historiography
  • 2. Neurath and Carnap: a misleading assimilation
  • 3. Neurath and Popper: an epistemological and political polarity
  • 2. Enlightenment, Neo-Marxism, Conventionalism: Towards a Critique of Cartesian Rationalism
  • 1. Science as ‘a means for life’
  • 2. Scientific holism
  • 3. A conventionalistic critique of Cartesian ‘pseudorationalism’
  • 3. Linguistic Reflexivity and ‘Pseudorationalism’
  • 1. Methodological decision and the reflexivity of scientific language
  • 2. The ‘physicalist’ overturning of the Circle’s orthodoxy
  • 3. Language and reality: a metaphysical relationship
  • 4. Reflexivity and the growth of science
  • 5. The plurivocality and imprecision of scientific language
  • 6. Methodological decision in the praxis of scientific communities
  • 7. Empirical rationalism and ‘pseudorationalism’
  • 4. Neurath versus Popper
  • 1. Popper’s criticism of Neurath
  • 2. Neurath’s criticism of German historicism and the philosophy of values: Mill versus Dilthey and Marx versus Weber
  • 3. Marxism as empirical political sociology
  • 4. Sociological ‘pseudorationalism’: the inadequacy of behaviourism and the ‘overmathematisation’ of sociology
  • 5. Causal asymmetry and the ceteris paribus clause in sociology: the limitations of functionalism and Marxism
  • 6. Problems and paradoxes in social prediction: the role of reflexivity
  • 7. Neurath and Hempel
  • 7. Evaluation, Prescription, and Political Decision
  • 1. Towards a sociology of sociology
  • 2. Social theory, ethics, and law: theoretical propositions and prescriptive propositions
  • 3. Happiness, utilitarianism, and social engineering
  • 4. Planning for freedom: Neurath’s criticism of political Platonism and the dispute with Hayek
  • Conclusion: Reflexive Epistemology and Social Complexity
  • List of Otto Neurath’s Cited Works
  • Meta-Bibliographical Note
  • Author Index
  • 2. Neurath’s reply: Protokollsätze and Basissätze
  • 3. Two forms of conventionalism in conflict
  • 4. ‘Laws of nature’ and existential propositions: a criticism of the causalist and deductive model of scientific explanation
  • 5. Experimenta crucis: against Popper’s conception of science as an asymptotic path toward truth
  • 5. The Unity of Science as a Historico-Sociological Goal: From the Primacy of Physics to the Epistemological Priority of Sociology
  • 1. From ‘unified science’ to the encyclopedic ‘orchestration’ of scientific language
  • 2. Popper’s objections to the projects of Neurath and Carnap
  • 3. Esprit systématique versus esprit de système: the encyclopedic paradigm
  • 4. The epistemological priority of sociology: a criticism of the ‘covering-laws-model’ of explanation
  • 6. Strengths andWeaknesses of an Empirical Sociology
  • 1. Logical empiricism and the social sciences: Hempel’s analysis