Austrian philosophy and its institutions
remarks on the philosophical society of the university of vienna (1888–1938)
pp. 349-374
in: Anne Reboul (ed), Mind, values, and metaphysics I, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
This study examines the place of the Philosophical Society of the University of Vienna (1888–1938) in the evolution of the history of philosophy in Austria, up to the establishment of the Vienna Circle in 1929. I will examine three aspects of the relationship between the Austrian members of the Vienna Circle and the Philosophical Society which has been emphasized by several historians of the Vienna Circle: The first aspect concerns the theory of a first Vienna Circle formed mainly by H. Hahn, P. Frank, and O. Neurath; the second aspect is the contention that the missing link between the Vienna Circle and the Bolzano tradition in Austria is Alois Höfler, a student of Brentano and Meinong; I will finally examine the link they established between the annexation of the Philosophical Society to the Kant-Gesellschaft in 1927 and the founding of the Vienna Circle in 1929. I will argue that this institution played a key role in the history of philosophy in Austria and is partly responsible for the formation of the Vienna Circle.
