Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science

by Karl Sigmund, Douglas R Hofstadter (Preface by)

Overview

A dazzling group biography of the early twentieth-century thinkers who transformed the way the world thought about math and science

Inspired by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and Bertrand Russell and David Hilbert's pursuit of the fundamental rules of mathematics, some of the most brilliant minds of the generation came together in post-World War I Vienna to present the latest theories in mathematics, science, and philosophy and to build a strong foundation for scientific investigation. Composed of such luminaries as Kurt Gödel and Rudolf Carnap, and stimulated by the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, the Vienna Circle left an indelible mark on science.

Exact Thinking in Demented Times tells the often outrageous, sometimes tragic, and never boring stories of the men who transformed scientific thought. A revealing work of history, this landmark book pays tribute to those who dared to reinvent knowledge from the ground up.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465096954
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	12/05/2017
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	905,459
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Karl Sigmund is a professor of mathematics at the University of Vienna. One of the pioneers of evolutionary game theory, he lives in Vienna.

Table of Contents

Preface Douglas Hofstadter ix

1 Bringing the Vienna Circle into Focus 1

2 A Tale of Two Thinkers 9

3 A Trial Run for the Vienna Circle 40

4 The Circle Starts Rolling 74

5 The Turn of the Circle 111

6 The Circle Makes a Name for Itself 138

7 Tangents 165

8 The Parallel Circle 199

9 The Circle Squeezed 235

10 Moral Matters 262

11 The Circle's End 287

12 Circling the Globe 324

13 Fadeout 355

Afterword 386

Illustration Credits 389

Notes 391

Bibliography 415

Index 431

Editorial Reviews

"Sigmund's book will long stand as the most engaging and accessible history of that remarkable movement...This is history—serious and first-rate history—written like a novel...A masterpiece."—Physics Today

"Delightful... [Sigmund] has produced a stimulating account of the Circle, not only stating with clarity its ideas but also giving colorful portraits of and personal stories about its members."—Washington Post

"Karl Sigmund's fond and knowledgeable exploration of the ideas and members of the legendary Vienna circle between the two wars...contains stark warnings not only about demented times, but also about the possible costs of exact thinking."—Economist

"A gripping, yet cautionary history... Ultimately, Exact Thinking in Demented Times... constitutes a salient reminder of the ongoing need for collective rationality in times of ethical and methodological crisis."—Nature

"A brisk and engaging account of the volatile mix of characters that came together to form the Vienna Circle: their fierce intellectual battles over its main doctrines, their foibles and eccentricities, their 'collective eroticism,' and their humiliations (mainly by Wittgenstein) and occasional mental breakdowns... Gives a vivid picture of the 'demented times' in which they attempted to carry out their 'exact thinking,' chronicling how Vienna between the wars... descended from cultural vitality into Nazi barbarism."—New York Review of Books

"A valuable book...the translation (by Mr. Sigmund himself) is almost flawless."—Wall Street Journal

"A passionate and subtly humorous account."—Scientific American

"Sigmund...makes excellent use of the archival material available in Vienna.... He has a particular talent for explaining the ideas—in physics, mathematics, and philosophy—very clearly."—New Criterion

"[Sigmund's] history is decades in the making and well worth the wait for anyone interested in the development of Western philosophy."—MAA Reviews

"Sigmund follows the Vienna Circle...through one of the most turbulent times in the history of central Europe."—Nature Physics

"Encapsulating an effervescent period, Sigmund's work will excite readers interested in the history of modern philosophy and science"—Booklist

"The turn of the 20th century begat a significant rethinking in philosophy... The author, one of the pioneers of evolutionary game theory, traces these ideas through the members of the Vienna Circle, from informal pre-World War I gatherings through the group's formal inception in 1924 to its dissolution following Hitler's annexation of Austria...Many readers will agree that we are currently living in 'demented times,' and Sigmund adeptly lays out a history that has great relevance for today."—Kirkus (starred review)

"Sigmund...breathes new life and energy into this important time period. In this extremely readable and accessible volume, Sigmund's familiarity with the Vienna Circle makes for fascinating observations about the people who made this part of science history possible."—Library Journal

"There is no doubt that the Vienna Circle was an assemblage of some of the most impressive human beings who have ever walked the planet, and Karl Sigmund's book tells its story, and their stories, in a gripping and eloquent fashion."
—Douglas Hofstadter, from the Preface

"Exact Thinking in Demented Times is filled with vivid and fascinating stories of intellectual genius flourishing in the midst of political chaos. Karl Sigmund succeeds in bringing the amazing individuals of the Vienna Circle to life. Highly recommended!"
—Ian Stewart, author of Significant Figures

"Karl Sigmund's rich account of the Vienna Circle teems with insights into the thinking its leading lights, which included some of the most important philosophers and scientists of the 1920s and 30s. A superb book, so replete with inter-disciplinary delights that it will make its readers feel like polymaths."
—Graham Farmelo, Fellow at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge and author of The Strangest Man

From the Publisher

★ 2017-10-02
The course of Western philosophy was profoundly altered by the work of a small band of Vienna intellectuals a century ago. Sigmund (Emeritus, Mathematics/Univ. of Vienna; Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, 2017, etc.) tells their story.The turn of the 20th century begat a significant rethinking in philosophy, away from a "muddled metaphysics" and toward a logical foundation for all of science and mathematics. David Hilbert posed unsolved problems in math, Einstein published his special relativity theory, and physicists Ernst Mach and Ludwig Boltzmann famously debated whether atoms existed. The author, one of the pioneers of evolutionary game theory, traces these ideas through the members of the Vienna Circle, from informal pre-World War I gatherings through the group's formal inception in 1924 to its dissolution following Hitler's annexation of Austria. The group held weekly lectures at the university followed by discussions at the local coffeehouses. Principal members were philosophers Moritz Schlick and Rudolf Carnap, mathematicians Hans Hahn and Karl Menger, and the left-wing social reformer Otto Neurath, but there were many visiting luminaries, including Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and later, Kurt Gödel and Karl Popper. Sigmund does not dwell on the abstruse word and language issues strenuously debated by the circle so much as sketch the colorful lives and loves of the members and their friends against the demented backdrop of interwar Vienna. The high unemployment and hyperinflation of post-1918 Vienna proved fertile ground for extreme ideologies and fanaticism, with the growth of national socialist parties as well as a deepening of a long-existent anti-Semitism. Schlick was assassinated, and once the Third Reich was in place, circle members and their friends fled. Fortunately, many found academic posts in England or America, in this way spreading the seeds of positivism in the West.Many readers will agree that we are currently living in "demented times," and Sigmund adeptly lays out a history that has great relevance for today.

Kirkus Reviews