Logical Positivism Philosophy Research Articles

Translating the Vienna Circle

ABSTRACT This article looks at the reception of logical positivism in the English-speaking world from the linguistic point of view. The inter-war Vienna Circle had a major impact on the development of English-language philosophy, but this was largely in the absence of published English translations. Many key essays appeared in English only well after the War, and the Circle’s 1929 manifesto ‘Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung: Der Wiener Kreis’ (The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle) was first published in English translation as late as 1973. Before the rise of Nazism forced many of the key figures in the Vienna Circle to emigrate to Britain and the USA and begin lecturing and publishing in English, English-language philosophers like Ayer and Quine had studied logical positivism in Vienna. The article considers: the extent to which English-language philosophers were engaging with Vienna Circle ideas in German; the importance of popularisations of logical positivism by English-speaking philosophers; the history of English translations of Vienna Circle writings, and the nature of those translations. Finally, the role of translation within the philosophy of logical positivism itself is considered, and the overall contribution of Vienna Circle thinking to translation studies is assessed.

On Wittgenstein’s Influence on the Logical Positivists

In this article, I consider the influence of the ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and above all the ideas of his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus on the philosophy of logical positivism. Agreeing that the question of such an influence is not a self-evident one, I clarify at first the concept of logical positivism and then turn to the evidence of the leading logical positivists about the influence of Wittgenstein upon them. An analysis of recollections of Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath, Friedrich Waismann, and Alfred Ayer suggests that at least these thinkers themselves considered such an influence as very significant.

Organizational Adaptation Strategies and the Performance of Retail Supermarkets in Nairobi City County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of organizational adaptation strategies on the performance of retail supermarkets in Nairobi City County. The study was guided by the philosophy of logical positivism using descriptive design that involved quantitative and qualitative approaches. The population comprised of all the 227 supermarkets in Nairobi City County. The sampling frame for the study was 143 supermarkets in Nairobi City County Sample survey design were used. Data was collected using a questionnaire which targeted chief executive officers, supervisors, or managers of the supermarkets. The study found that organizational direction, structure, and culture have a significant influence on the performance of retail supermarket in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study recommends that organizations should be adapted to their internal environment through the use of corporate direction, organizational culture, and organizational structure. Elements of corporate direction, namely vision. Mission and objectives guide the firm’s general trend as guided by is philosophy and together with a strong organizational culture, which lies embed in the firm and a well laid out structure spur organizational performance. The study further points out the and encourages more strengthened studies which would consider larger geographical zones.

The Effect of The Head Master of Principal's Democratic Leadership Style on Motivation of Teacher Work in State of Madrasah Aliyah, Tapaktuan

Democratic leaders always try to stimulate their members to work cooperatively to achieve common goals. Democratic leadership places humans as the main and most important factor in each group / organization. The aim is To improve employee performance, efforts are needed to arouse employee motivation and other factors that influence it. this study is a quantitative approach is one of the efforts of scientific search (scientific inquiry) which is based on logical positivism philosophy about logic, truth, laws, and predictions (Watson in Danim). The results are the study show that there is an influence of the principal's democratic leadership style on teacher work motivation in the Tapaktuan Superior State Madrasah Aliyah.

Interpretation of language in philosophy of logical positivism and linguistic analysis

The scientific article of Vermenko А. Yu., Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy, Bioethics and History of Medicine of O. O. Bogomolets National Medical University, published in Науковий вісник Міжнародного гуманітарного університету. Сер.: Філологія. 2019 № 41 том 1 (co-author Slavova L. L., Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv )

Computers, postmodernism and the culture of the artificial

The term ‘the artificial’ can only be given a precise meaning in the context of the evolution of computational technology and this in turn can only be fully understood within a cultural setting that includes an epistemological perspective. The argument is illustrated in two case studies from the history of computational machinery: the first calculating machines and the first programmable computers. In the early years of electronic computers, the dominant form of computing was data processing which was a reflection of the dominant philosophy of logical positivism. By contrast, artificial intelligence (AI) adopted an anti-positivist position which left it marginalised until the 1980s when two camps emerged: technical AI which reverted to positivism, and strong AI which reified intelligence. Strong AI's commitment to the computer as a symbol processing machine and its use of models links it to late-modernism. The more directly experiential Virtual Reality (VR) more closely reflects the contemporary cultural climate of postmodernism. It is VR, rather than AI, that is more likely to form the basis of a culture of the artificial.

Words and the faculty.

Last month we were talking of words in general and of medical and scientific language in particular. Words, we said, were in a very real sense living symbols of the long pilgrimage of our race. Precise and literate language in medicine was essential to the integrity and stature of the profession. The exercise of judgment and care in this matter remains the mark of a civilized man. Doubtless it was all a bit pedantic, but if I am to be hanged for it, I must protest that I am being hanged in a good cause. There are other aspects of this business of language that I might have dealt with as well. For one thing, the thriving science of semantics bristling with problems, with which the name of Korzybski is linked; the modern philosophy of logical positivism, its theme "Philosophy is a critique of language," and its chief exponent Wittgenstein.