The Vienna Circle: Shaping Contemporary Analytic Philosophy and Its History

Dear Colleagues,

An exciting trend in current analytic philosophy is the emergence of several topics that draw their inspiration partly from the work of Rudolf Carnap, a leading figure in the Vienna Circle. Approaches such as deflationary metaontology, conceptual engineering, logical pluralism, and related views on the normativity of logic are seen to have Carnapian roots; however, these topics are quite foreign to the once-prevalent but rather narrow reading of Carnap that derives from W. V. Quine’s and others’ appraisal of him in the 1950s and 1960s.

The case of Carnap raises questions about the potential narrowness of our understanding of the Vienna Circle in general.  While the reappraisal of the history of the Vienna Circle has been ongoing since the early 1980s, the more recent developments in analytic philosophy suggest that there might be even more interesting yet previously unnoticed views pertinent to present-day concerns.

This Special Issue collects such novel perspectives on the Vienna Circle. The covered topics range from rereadings of the doctrines of the members of the Vienna Circle, such as Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath, and Moritz Schlick, but also less well known figures, including its female members or sympathizers. We look for constructive connections between the Vienna Circle and different philosophical traditions as well as new perspectives on various thematic questions, such as the development of contemporary logic and unity of science.

Topics relevant to this Special Issue include, but are not restricted to, the following:

• The reception and impact of the Vienna Circle on contemporary analytic philosophy;
• The relationship between logical positivism and other intellectual movements in Europe and the United States, such as phenomenology, existentialism, pragmatism, and critical theory;
• Logical positivism and contemporary philosophy of science: legacy and relevance;
• The Vienna Circle’s contributions to the philosophy of mathematics and logic;
• Interdisciplinary and extradisciplinary perspectives on logical positivism and its heritage.

Dr. Mirja Hartimo
Dr. Anssi Korhonen
Guest Editors

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• Vienna Circle
• Carnap
• Schlick
• Neurath
• history of analytic philosophy
• logical empiricism
• logical positivism