Hans Reichenbach

Hans Reichenbach (September 26, 1891, Hamburg, – April 9, 1953, Los Angeles) was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical positivism.

Life and work

Reichenbach is best know for having been a founder of the Berlin circle and for his ideas on logical positivism (or neopositivism, or logical empiricism). He studied physics, mathematics and philosophy at various universities, including those of Berlin, Erlangen, Göttingen and Munich. Among his teachers were Ernst Cassirer, David Hilbert, Max Planck, Max Born and Albert Einstein.

Related Topics:
Berlin circle - Physics - Mathematics - Philosophy - Berlin - Erlangen - Göttingen - Munich - Ernst Cassirer - David Hilbert - Max Planck - Max Born - Albert Einstein

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Reichenbach received a degree in philosophy from the University of Erlangen in 1915 and his dissertation on the theory of probability was published in 1916. After attending Albert Einstein's lectures on the theory of relativity in Berlin from 1917 to 1920, Reichenbach chose the theory as the starting point for his philosophical research.

Related Topics:
Philosophy - University of Erlangen - 1915 - Dissertation - Theory of probability - 1916 - Albert Einstein - Theory of relativity - Berlin - 1917 - 1920

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In 1920 he published his first book on the philosophical implications of the theory of relativity, The Theory of Relativity and A Priori Knowledge, in which he criticized the Kantian theory of synthetic a priori. Following this, he published Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity (1924), From Copernicus to Einstein (1927) and The Philosophy of Space and Time (1928), the last stating the logical positivist view on the theory in question.

Related Topics:
Kantian - A priori - 1924 - 1927 - 1928

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While a professor of philosophy of physics, he gained notice for his methods of teaching. Notably, he was known to be easily approached and his courses were open to discussion and debate. This was highly unusual at the time, although the practice is nowadays a common one.

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In 1928 the Berlin Circle (German: Die Gesellschaft für empirische Philosophie; English: "Society for Empirical Philosophy") was founded. Among its members were Carl Gustav Hempel, Richard von Mises, David Hilbert and Kurt Grelling. In 1930 he and Rudolf Carnap undertook the editorship of the journal Erkenntnis ("Knowledge").

Related Topics:
German - English - Carl Gustav Hempel - Richard von Mises - David Hilbert - Kurt Grelling - 1930 - Rudolf Carnap

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In 1933, the year in which Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, Reichenbach emigrated to Turkey, where he became chief of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Istanbul. While in Turkey he introduced interdisciplinary seminars and courses on scientific subjects, and in 1935 he published The Theory of Probability.

Related Topics:
1933 - Adolf Hitler - Chancellor of Germany - Turkey - University of Istanbul - Interdisciplinary - 1935

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In 1938 he decided to move to the United States, where he was offered a professorship at the University of California, Los Angeles. Reichenbach's work on the philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics was published in 1944, and afterwards he published two popular books entitled Elements of Symbolic Logic and The Rise of Scientific Philosophy.

Related Topics:
1938 - United States - University of California, Los Angeles - Quantum mechanics - 1944

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He died on April 9, 1953 in Los Angeles while working on problems of the philosophy of time. This work originated The Direction of Time, a book posthumously published.

Related Topics:
April 9 - Philosophy of time

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