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Scientific World Conception on Stage: The Prague Meeting of the German Physicists and Mathematicians

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The Vienna Circle in Czechoslovakia

Part of the book series: Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook ((VCIY,volume 23))

Abstract

In September 1929, the biennial meeting of German-speaking physicists and mathematicians took place at the German University of Prague. Its opening session featured papers by Philipp Frank, Richard von Mises, and Arnold Sommerfeld that centered on the consequences of the new quantum mechanics for causality and on the role of statistical laws within contemporary physics. Frank and von Mises advocated, more broadly, for a new philosophy that applied scientific methods to philosophical problems and was based on the same empiricist outlook as the sciences themselves. Sommerfeld, instead, rejected any concessions to positivism or pragmatism that implied a less demanding notion of natural law. In contrast to Frank and von Mises, he did not reject traditional metaphysical problems, among them teleology or dualism, as unanswerable pseudo-questions. Looking at the background of the 1929 opening session and some reactions to it, I argue that it provides important insights into how the quest for a scientific world conception fared within the German-speaking scientific community and how it was related to the traditional debates among physicist-philosophers that had found their expression in a plethora of academic addresses.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It was published by the Verein Ernst Mach (1929), a society founded by the Vienna Circle and its local allies, and written by Hans Hahn , Otto Neurath , and Rudolf Carnap . The distinction between a private and a public phase has been introduced by Friedrich Stadler , The Vienna Circle. Studies in the Origins, Development, and Influence of Logical Empiricism. Wien – New York: Springer 2001.

  2. 2.

    For instance, by Hilbert at Königsberg in the following year, see: David Hilbert, “Naturerkennen und Logik”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 18, 1930, pp. 959–963. For a broader assessment cf. Michael Stöltzner, “Philipp Frank and the German Physical Society”, in: W. DePauli-Schimanovich, E. Köhler , F. Stadler (Eds.), The Foundational Debate. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 3. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1995, pp. 293–302.

  3. 3.

    Philipp Frank , Modern Science and Its Philosophy. New York: Collier Books 1961, pp. 49 f.

  4. 4.

    Moritz Schlick , “Die Kausalität in der gegenwärtigen Physik“, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 19, 1931, pp. 145–162.

  5. 5.

    Hans Reichenbach , “Das Kausalproblem in der Physik”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 19, 1931, pp. 713–722.

  6. 6.

    Cf. Michael Stöltzner, Vienna Indeterminism. Causality, Realism and the Two Strands of Boltzmann’s Legacy (1896–1936). Bielefeld: Bielefeld University 2003. Accessible under https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/publication/2304524

  7. 7.

    All translations from German are mine, unless a translation is indicated. The mentioned paper is clearly Frank’s Prague opening address.

  8. 8.

    Richard von Mises , Kleines Lehrbuch des Positivismus. Einführung in die empiristische Wissenschaftsauffassung. Den Haag 1939. Reprint ed. by Friedrich Stadler , Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1990. English version: Positivism. A Study in Human Understanding, Cambridge (Mas.): Harvard University Press 1951.

  9. 9.

    Philipp Frank , Das Kausalgesetz und seine Grenzen. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1988. (Originally published by Springer, Vienna, 1932.) English translation: The Law of Causality and Its Limits, Dordrecht: Kluwer 1998.

  10. 10.

    Von Mises wrote a long and favorable review of the book: Richard von Mises, “Frank , Philipp, Das Kausalgesetz und seine Grenzen”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 20, 1932, pp. 772–775.

  11. 11.

    Cf. Philipp Frank , Richard von Mises , Die Differentialgleichungen der Mechanik und Physik. Braunschweig: Vieweg 1925/27. (Erster/mathematischer Teil 1925, zweiter/physikalischer Teil 1927.) For more details, see: Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze, “Philipp Frank, Richard von Mises, and the Frank-Mises”, in: Physics in Perspective 9, 2007, pp. 26–57.

  12. 12.

    For more details, see: Stöltzner, “Philipp Frank and the German Physical Society”, op. cit.

  13. 13.

    The story of fluctuations in Vienna can be found in: Michael Stöltzner, “Zur Genese der Schweidlerschen Schwankungen und der Brownschen Molekularbewegung“, in: Silke Fengler, Carola Sachse (Eds.), Kernforschung in Österreich. Wandlungen eines interdisziplinären Forschungsfeldes 1900–1978. Wien: Böhlau 2012, pp. 309–340.

  14. 14.

    Reinhold Fürth , “Schwankungserscheinungen in der Physik“, in: Physikalische Zeitschrift 20, 1919, pp. 303–309, 332–335, 350–356 and 375–381. (Book publication: Leipzig: Vieweg 1920.)

  15. 15.

    Philipp Frank , Richard von Mises , Die Differentialgleichungen der Mechanik und Physik, op. cit.

  16. 16.

    Stöltzner, “Zur Genese der Schweidlerschen Schwankungen und der Brownschen Molekularbewegung“, op. cit.

  17. 17.

    Franz S. Exner , Über Gesetze in Naturwissenschaft und Humanistik. Wien – Leipzig: Alfred Hölder 1909.

  18. 18.

    Michael Stöltzner, “Vienna Indeterminism: Mach, Boltzmann, Exner”, in: Synthese 119, 1999, pp. 85–111. Michael Stöltzner, Vienna Indeterminism. Causality, Realism and the Two Strands of Boltzmann’s Legacy (1896–1936), op. cit.

  19. 19.

    Max Planck , Dynamische und statistische Gesetzmäßigkeit. Leipzig: Barth 1914.

  20. 20.

    Arnold Sommerfeld , “Einige grundsätzliche Bemerkungen zur Wellenmechanik”, in: Physikalische Zeitschrift 30, 1929, p. 866.

  21. 21.

    Moritz Schlick , “Positivismus und Realismus”, in: Erkenntnis 3, 1932, pp. 1–31.

  22. 22.

    The paper is translated as “Physical Theories of the Twentieth Century and School Philosophy” in: Frank, Modern Science and Its Philosophy, op. cit., pp. 96–125.

  23. 23.

    Philipp Frank , “Was bedeuten die gegenwärtigen physikalischen Theorien für die allgemeine Erkenntnislehre”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 17, 1929, p. 991. English translation: “Physical Theories of the Twentieth Century and School Philosophy”, op. cit., p. 119.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., p. 974/102.

  25. 25.

    Emil Du Bois-Reymond , Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennens. Leipzig: Veit 1872.

  26. 26.

    For a broader assessment of the speech’s intellectual background and influence, see: Kurt Bayertz, Myriam Gerhard and Walter Jaeschke, Weltanschauung, Philosophie und Naturwissenschaft im 19. Jahrhundert. Der Ignorabimus-Streit. Hamburg: Meiner 2007.

  27. 27.

    David Hilbert , “Mathematische Probleme”, in: Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse), 1900, pp. 253–297.

  28. 28.

    Verein Ernst Mach, Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung. Der Wiener Kreis. Wien: Arthur Wolf Verlag 1929, p. 15. Reprint with translation edited by Friedrich Stadler and Thomas Uebel , Dordrecht: Springer 2012.

  29. 29.

    Philipp Frank , “Über die Anschaulichkeit physikalischer Theorien”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 16, 1928, p. 124. This paper was not included in the English collection of his papers.

  30. 30.

    Frank, “Was bedeuten die gegenwärtigen physikalischen Theorien für die allgemeine Erkenntnislehre”, op. cit., p. 973. English translation: “Physical Theories of the Twentieth Century and School Philosophy”, op. cit., p. 102.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., p. 974/104.

  32. 32.

    Philipp Frank , “Die Bedeutung der physikalischen Erkenntnistheorie Machs für das Geistesleben der Gegenwart“, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 5, 1917, pp. 65–72. English translation in: Frank, Modern Science and Its Philosophy, op. cit., pp. 69–85.

  33. 33.

    Frank, “Was bedeuten die gegenwärtigen physikalischen Theorien für die allgemeine Erkenntnislehre”, op. cit., p. 975. English translation: “Physical Theories of the Twentieth Century and School Philosophy”, op. cit., p. 105.

  34. 34.

    To restore terminological continuity with other Logical Empiricists of the day, here and in the subsequent passages I have changed Frank’s own English translation (1961). Frank wrote “assigned” and “correspondence” for “zugeordnet” and “Zuordnung”. In view of Frank’s post-war writings, I suspect that this was done deliberately to distance himself from a position he no longer advocated.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., p. 987/111.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., p. 992 f./123. In the English translation, Frank (1961) used the word “probability” instead. To a frequentist this was of course the same, at least in the present context.

  37. 37.

    Max Planck , “Vom Relativen zum Absoluten”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 13, 1925, pp. 52–59.

  38. 38.

    Frank, “Was bedeuten die gegenwärtigen physikalischen Theorien für die allgemeine Erkenntnislehre”, op. cit., p. 976. English translation: “Physical Theories of the Twentieth Century and School Philosophy”, op. cit., p. 107.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., p. 989/114.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., p. 992/122.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., p. 993/123.

  42. 42.

    Frank, Das Kausalgesetz und seine Grenzen, op. cit.

  43. 43.

    Richard von Mises , “Über kausale und statistische Gesetzmäßigkeit in der Physik”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 18, 1930, p. 146.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., p. 152.

  45. 45.

    Richard von Mises, “Über die gegenwärtige Krise der Mechanik”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 10, 1922, pp. 25–29.

  46. 46.

    von Mises , “Über kausale und statistische Gesetzmäßigkeit in der Physik”, op. cit., p. 146.

  47. 47.

    Ibid., p. 146.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., p. 147.

  49. 49.

    Ibid., p. 148.

  50. 50.

    von Mises, “Über die gegenwärtige Krise der Mechanik”, op. cit., p. 29.

  51. 51.

    Stöltzner, “Vienna Indeterminism: Mach, Boltzmann , Exner ”, op. cit.

  52. 52.

    Richard von Mises, “Fundamentalsätze der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung”, in: Mathematische Zeitschrift 5, 1919, pp. 52–99 and 100.

  53. 53.

    For a broader discussion of the relationship between probability and causality within Logical Empiricism see: Michael Stöltzner, “The Logical Empiricists“, in: Helen Beebee, Christopher Hitchcock, and Peter Menzies (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Causation, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009, pp. 108–127.

  54. 54.

    von Mises , “Über kausale und statistische Gesetzmäßigkeit in der Physik”, op. cit., p. 151.

  55. 55.

    Ibid., p. 152.

  56. 56.

    Ibid., p. 153.

  57. 57.

    Ibid., p. 153.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., p. 153.

  59. 59.

    Frank, “Was bedeuten die gegenwärtigen physikalischen Theorien für die allgemeine Erkenntnislehre”, op. cit.

  60. 60.

    Richard von Mises , “Über das naturwissenschaftliche Weltbild der Gegenwart”, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 18, 1930, pp. 885–893; passage on p. 887.

  61. 61.

    Ibid., p. 890.

  62. 62.

    Ibid., p. 890.

  63. 63.

    Ernst Mach, “Die Leitgedanken meiner naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnislehre und ihre Aufnahme durch die Zeitgenossen”, in: Scientia VII (anno IV), 1910, pp. 225–240.

  64. 64.

    von Mises, “Über das naturwissenschaftliche Weltbild der Gegenwart”, op. cit. p. 891.

  65. 65.

    Presented especially in Max Planck , Die Einheit des physikalischen Weltbildes. Leipzig: Hirzel 1909, and Planck, “Vom Relativen zum Absoluten”, op. cit.

  66. 66.

    von Mises , “Über das naturwissenschaftliche Weltbild der Gegenwart”, op. cit. p. 891.

  67. 67.

    Ibid., p. 891.

  68. 68.

    Ibid., p. 892.

  69. 69.

    Ibid.

  70. 70.

    Ibid. This famous quotation appeared in: Ernst Mach, Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwicklung. Historisch-kritisch dargestellt. Ed. by Renate Wahsner and Horst-Heino von Borzeszkowski, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1988, p. 479. English translation authorized by Mach: The Science of Mechanics. Account of Its Development, La Salle: Open Court 1989 (first published 1883), p. 559.

  71. 71.

    von Mises, “Über das naturwissenschaftliche Weltbild der Gegenwart”, op. cit., p. 892.

  72. 72.

    Ibid.

  73. 73.

    Sommerfeld , “Einige grundsätzliche Bemerkungen zur Wellenmechanik”, op. cit., p. 866.

  74. 74.

    Ibid.

  75. 75.

    Ibid.

  76. 76.

    Ibid., p. 867.

  77. 77.

    Ibid., p. 868.

  78. 78.

    Ibid.

  79. 79.

    Ibid., p. 870.

  80. 80.

    Ibid.

  81. 81.

    Ibid.

  82. 82.

    Ibid.

  83. 83.

    Niels Bohr , “Wirkungsquantum und Naturbeschreibung“, in: Die Naturwissenschaften 17, 1929, pp. 483–486.

  84. 84.

    Sommerfeld , “Einige grundsätzliche Bemerkungen zur Wellenmechanik”, op. cit., pp. 870 f.

  85. 85.

    Philipp Frank , “Philosophische Deutungen und Mißdeutungen der Quantentheorie“, in: Erkenntnis 6, 1937, pp. 303–317. English translation in: Frank, Modern Science and Its Philosophy, op. cit. pp. 158–170.

  86. 86.

    Moritz Schlick , “Quantentheorie und Erkennbarkeit der Natur”, in: Erkenntnis 6, 1937, pp. 317–326.

  87. 87.

    Frank, “Philosophische Deutungen und Mißdeutungen der Quantentheorie”, op.cit., p. 316/170.

  88. 88.

    Frank, Das Kausalgesetz und seine Grenzen, op. cit.

  89. 89.

    Ibid., pp. 166/133 f.

  90. 90.

    Ibid., pp. 135/168.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Radek Schuster, Emilie Těšínská, and the participants of the Pilsen meeting for their comments on the paper. I also thank Veronika Hofer for so many debates about history and philosophy of science at Prague. Schlick’s correspondence is housed in the Wiener Kreis Stichting, Rijksarchief Noord-Holland; I thank Anne J. Kox for the permission to use these materials. Nicholas Danne has taken a native speaker’s look at the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Michael Stöltzner

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic

    Radek Schuster

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Stöltzner, M. (2020). Scientific World Conception on Stage: The Prague Meeting of the German Physicists and Mathematicians. In: Schuster, R. (eds) The Vienna Circle in Czechoslovakia. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36383-3_4

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