From the Vienna Circle to the Institute Vienna Circle: On the Viennese Heritage in Contemporary Philosophy of Science

Zusammenfassung

The Vienna Circle as part of the intellectual movement of Central European philosophy of science is certainly one of the most important currents for the emergence of modern philosophy of science. Independent from this uncontested historical fact there remains the question of the direct and indirect influence, reception and topicality of this scientific community in contemporary general philosophy of science as well as in the philosophy of the individual sciences, including the social sciences and humanities.

In my account I will focus on the “present situation in the philosophy of science” by identifying some relevant impacts, results, and unfinished projects since the classical Vienna Circle, by dealing with specific European features of this globalized philosophical tradition up to the present, and by exemplifying some future perspectives after the linguistic, historical and pragmatic turns. This reconstruction is partly linked to the history of the Institute Vienna Circle which was established in 1991 in Vienna, and which was a supporting institution of the ESF Research Network Program the “Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective” (PSE) from 2008 to 2013.