Overview

Karl Menger (1902-1985), a pure mathematician, also took an active interest in both philosophy and economics. In this memoir, which he was composing at the time of his death, he relates how all these subjects developed and flourished against the Viennese background (described in depth), and did so despite the political developments of the 20s and 30s, which depressed but did not silence him. He continued his work in the United States. The memoir describes his membership of the Vienna Circle (the scientifically minded philosophers that gathered around Moritz Schlick) for whom he was an intermediary, bringing them into contact with Brouwer's intuitionism, with the work of the Polish logicians, especially that of Tarski, but more generally with rigorous mathematical thinking. Indeed, the other Viennese group described here is the Mathematical Colloquium, which he founded, whose Proceedings show it to have been a powerhouse of ideas. There are also chapters on philosophy and mathematics in the Poland of the 20s and 30s and the United States of the 30s and 40s. The memoir devotes particular attention to Wittgenstein (with whose family Menger was acquainted) and to Goedel, whom he was instrumental in bringing to America. The genesis of Menger's own writings on philosophy is also described and the work features many mathematical examples applied to that subject. This volume gives an impression of the interdisciplinarity of the tradition to which he partly belonged and partly created. A brief account of his life is given in an introduction by the editors (all of whom knew him personally), and his contribution to the social sciences - only touched on in the text - is elucidated by Professor Lionello Punzo.

Full Product Details

Author:   Karl Menger ,  L. Golland ,  B.F. McGuinness ,  Abe Sklar
Publisher:   Springer
Imprint:   Springer
Edition:   1994 ed.
Volume:   20
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   1.250kg
ISBN:  

9780792327110

ISBN 10:   079232711
Pages:   244
Publication Date:   30 June 1994
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

I The Historical Background.- II The Cultural Background.- III The Philosophical Atmosphere in Vienna.- IV Why the Circle invited me. The Theory of Curves and Dimension Theory.- V Vignettes of the Members of the Circle in 1927.- VI Reminiscences of the Wittgenstein Family.- VII Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Austrian Dictionary.- VIII Wittgenstein’s Tractatus and the Early Circle.- IX On the Communication of Metaphysical Ideas. Wittgenstein’s Ontology.- X Wittgenstein, Brower, and the Circle.- XI Discussions in the Circle 1927–30.- XII Poland and the Vienna Circle.- XIII The United States 1930–31.- XIV Discussions in the Circle 1931–34.- XV The Circle on Ethics.- XVI Moritz Schlick’s Final Years.- Memories of Kurt Gödel.- Index of Names.

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