Philosophical Papers (Vienna Circle Collection, Volume 8)

Friedrich Waismann was born in Vienna in 1896 and lived there until the time of the Anschluss in 1938. From then until his death in 1959 he lived in England; this, apart from a brief period at Cambridge early on, was almost wholly at Oxford, \, Vhere he held the posts, first, or reader in the philosophy of mathematics and then of reader in the philosophy of science. He was of Jewish descent -his father being Russian, his mother German. He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Vienna and attended the lec- tures of Hahn. Beginning his career as a teacher of mathematics he soon be- came an unofficial assistant to Moritz Schlick. It was Schlick's concern to see that the new philosophical ideas developed by Wittgenstein from the time of his return to philosophy in the later 1920s were made public that de- termined the subsequent shape of Waismann's activities. Until the out- break of the war in 1939 his main task was the preparation of a book in which Wittgenstein's thought was to be systematically expounded. Be- tween 1927 and 1935 this project was carried on in close personal conjunc- tion with Wittgenstein. A first version of the planned book, Logik. Sprache. Philosophie seems to have been completed by 1931. A very differ- ent version came to England with Waismann in 1938. It finally appeared, in an English translation, as Principles of Linguistic Philosophy. Front Matter....Pages I-XXII The Nature of the Axiom of Reducibility....Pages 1-3 A Logical Analysis of the Concept of Probability....Pages 4-21 The Concept of Identity....Pages 22-29 Moritz Schlick’s Significance for Philosophy....Pages 30-37 Hypotheses....Pages 38-59 Is Logic a Deductive Theory?....Pages 60-67 The Relevance of Psychology to Logic....Pages 68-80 What is Logical Analysis?....Pages 81-103 Fiction....Pages 104-121 A Note on Existence....Pages 122-135 A Remark on Experience....Pages 136-149 The Linguistic Technique....Pages 150-165 Belief and Knowledge....Pages 166-178 Two Accounts of Knowing....Pages 179-185 Back Matter....Pages 186-191 Editor's note. The nature of the axiom of reducibility. A logical analysis of the concept of probability. The concept of identity. Moritz Schlick's significance for philosophy. Hypotheses. Is logic a deductive theory. The relevance of psychology to logic. What is logical analysis? Fiction. A note on existence. A remark on experience. The linguistic technique. Belief and knowledge. Two accounts of knowing.