Reconsidering Logical Positivism

Rating:
Summary: Worth considering
Review: Collects some good papers together in the effort to redeem a few strands of positivism. More folks need to read this.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent and important book
Review: This book is an excellent collection of essays by Michael Friedman (most of the essays have been previously published) on logical positivism. Friedman challenges the so-called "received view" of logical positivism (the focus of the essays are on Carnap, Schlick, and Reichenbach). Friedman demonstrates his rich understanding on the history of 20th century analytic philosophy, the exact sciences, and the positivists. The book also reflects Friedman's gifts as historian and philosopher. In my view, Friedman presents a persuasive case for viewing the positivists as neo-Kantians (especially, in the "relative a priori" that he argues that they articulate), however, he takes this interpretation a bit too far at some points (NB, a useful sequel to this book is Friedman's "Dynamics of Reason"). Nonetheless, the resulting book represents a valuable contribution to positivist and history of anlaytic philosophy scholarship.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent and important book
Review: This book is an excellent collection of essays by Michael Friedman (most of the essays have been previously published) on logical positivism. Friedman challenges the so-called "received view" of logical positivism (the focus of the essays are on Carnap, Schlick, and Reichenbach). Friedman demonstrates his rich understanding on the history of 20th century analytic philosophy, the exact sciences, and the positivists. The book also reflects Friedman's gifts as historian and philosopher. In my view, Friedman presents a persuasive case for viewing the positivists as neo-Kantians (especially, in the "relative a priori" that he argues that they articulate), however, he takes this interpretation a bit too far at some points (NB, a useful sequel to this book is Friedman's "Dynamics of Reason"). Nonetheless, the resulting book represents a valuable contribution to scholarship on logical empiricism and the history of analytic philosophy.