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Springer-Verlag NewYork Wien

Library oE Exact Philosophy

Moritz Schlick

General Theory of Knowledge Translated by Albert E. Blumberg With an Introduction by A. E. Blumberg and H. Feigl

Springer-Verlag NewYork Wien 1974

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Translated from the 2nd German Edition of Allgemeine Erkenntnislehre (Naturwissenschaftliche Monographien und Lehrbücher, Band 1) Berlin: Verlag von Julius Springer, 1925 Copyright 1925 by Julius Springer in Berlin Printing type: Sabon Roman Composed and printed by Herbert Hiessberger, Pottenstein Binding work: Karl Scheibe, Wien Design: Hans Joachim Böning, Wien

ISBN 978-3-7091-3101-5 ISBN 978-3-7091-3099-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1 007/978-3-7091-3099-5

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data banks. © 1974 by Springer-Verlag/Wien Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1974 Library of Congress Card Number 73 - 80988

General Preface to the LEP Exact philosophy can be described as the field of philosophy tilled with exact tools, i. e. logic and mathematics. Exactness concerns the methods or tools, not the subject. Regardless of its subject, a piece of philosophical investigation qualifies as exact as long as it involves a precise statement of the problems, a careful analysis of the key concepts and principles, and an attempt at systematization. If the outcome is a full fledged theory with adefinite mathematical structure, and moreover a theory that solves some important philosophical problems, so much the better. It is worth while, nay exciting and urgent, to try the exact method in every branch of philosophy - in semantics, epistemology, philosophy of science, value theory, ethics, legal philosophy, the history of philosophy, and perhaps even in aesthetics. The more exactly we proceed in handling genuine philosophical problems, the narrower should become the gap between the humanities on the one hand, and mathematics and science on the other. And the better we bridge this gap the lesser will be the chances that the anti-intellectualist trends will destroy contemporary culture.

Some great philosophers have worked in exact philosophy: not only Carnap and Russell but also Bolzano, Leibniz, and Aristotle. A whole school, the Vienna Circle, was devoted to the enterprise of reconstructing philosophy in an exact manner and in the light of the sciences. The Library of Exact Philosophy is a new link in this long thin chain. It was established in 1970 in order to stimulate the production and circulation of significant additions to philosophia more geometrico. The LEP has already made a contribution

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General Preface

to that goal, and it is hoped that it will incorporate further works dealing in an exact way with interesting philosophical issues. Zürich, April 1973 Mario Bunge

From the Preface to the First Edition It may seem odd that aseries of works devo