Selected Writings 1909-1953 Volume One

These two volumes form a full portrait of Hans Reichenbach, from the school boy and university student to the maturing and creative scholar, who was as well an immensely devoted teacher and a gifted popular writer and speaker on science and philosophy. We selected the articles for several reasons. Many of them have not pre­ viously been available in English; many are out of print, either in English or in German; some, especially the early ones, have been little known, and deal with subject-matters other than philosophy of science. The genesis and evolu­ tion of Reichenbach's ideas appeared to be of deep interest, and so we in­ cluded papers from four decades, despite occasional redundancy. We were, for example, pleased to include his extensive review article from the encyclo­ pedic Handbuch der Physik of 1929 on 'The Aims and Methods of Physical Knowledge', written at a time of creative collaboration between Reichenbach's Berlin group and the Vienna Circle of Schlick and Carnap. Reichenbach was a pioneer, opening new pathways to the solution of age-old problems in many fields: space, time, causality, induction and probability - philosophical analysis and interpretation of classical physics, relativity and quantum physics - logic, language, ethics, scientific explanation and methodology, critical appreciation and reconstruction of past metaphysical thinkers and scientists from Plato to Leibniz and Kant. Indeed, his own philosophical journey was initiated by his passage from Kant to anti-Kant.

Memories of Hans Reichenbach.- 1. Autobiographical Sketches for Academic Purposes.- 2. Memories of Wendeli Erné, Hans Reichenbach’s Sister.- 3. At the End of School Days: A Look Backward and a Look Forward (1909).- 4. Letter from Reichenbach to His Four Years Older Brother Bernhard.- 5. From a letter of Bernhard Reichenbach to Maria Reichenbach (1975).- 6. Memories of Ilse Reichenbach, Hans Reichenbach’s Sister-in-Law.- 7. Memories of Uncle Hans: Nino Erné.- 8. Hans’ Speech at the Funeral of His Father.- 9. Aphorisms of a Docent Formally Admitted to Teach at a University (1924).- 10. University Student: Carl Landauer.- 11. University Student: Hilde Landauer.- 12. Memories of Hans Reichenbach, 1928 and Later: Sidney Hook.- 13. A Young University Teacher [from a letter of Carl Hempel to Maria Reichenbach, March 21, 1976].- 14. A Professor in Turkey, 1936: Memories of Matild Kamber.- 15. Concerning Reichenbach’s Appointment to the University of California at Los Angeles: Charles Morris.- 16. Memories of Hans Reichenbach: Rudolf Carnap.- 17. Memories of Hans Reichenbach: Herbert Feigl.- 18. Recollections of Hans Reichenbach: Ernest Nagel.- 19. U.C.L.A.: Donald Kalish.- 20. U.C.L.A.: Paul Wienpahl.- 21. U.C.L.A.: Norman Dalkey.- 22. U.C.L.A.: Hermann F. Schott.- 23. A Blind Student Recalls Hans Reichcnbach: H. G. Burns.- 24. Recollections of Hans Reichenbach: David Brunswick.- 25. U.C.L.A., 1945–1950: Cynthia Schuster.- 26. U.C.L.A., 1949: W. Bruce Taylor.- 27. 1950: Donald A.Wells.- 28. U.C.L.A., 1951–53: Ruth Anna Putnam.- 29. Memories of Hans Reichenbach: Frank Leroi.- 30. Hans Reichenbach’s Definitive Influence on Me: Adolf Grünbaum.- 31. At the Chapel, 1953: Abraham Kaplan.- 32. Hans Reichenbach, a Memoir: Wesley C. Salmon.- 33. Memories of Hans Reichenbach: Maria Reichenbach.- I / Early Writings on Social Problems.- Student Years: Introductory Note to Part I (M.R.).- 1. The Student (1912–13).- 2. The Student Body and Catholicism (1912).- 3. The Free Student Idea: Its Unified Contents (1913).- 4. Why do we Advocate Physical Culture? (1913).- 5. The Meaning of University Reform (1914).- 6. Platform of the Socialist Students’ Party (1918).- 7. Socializing the University (1918).- I. Society and Community.- II. The University.- III. The New Order.- IV. Economic Demands.- V. Legal Demands.- VI. Pedagogical Demands.- 8. Report of the Socialist Student Party, Berlin and Notes on the Program (1918).- II / Popular Scientific Articles.- 9. The Nobel Prize for Einstein (1922).- 10. Relativity Theory in a Matchbox: A Philosophical Dialogue (1922).- 11. Tycho Brahe’s Sextants (1926).- 12. The Effects of Einstein’s Theory (1926).- 13. An Open Letter to the Berlin Funkstunde Corporation (1926).- 14. Laying the Foundations of Chemistry: The Work of Marcellin Berthelot (1927).- 15. Memories of Svante Arrhenius (1927).- 16. A New Model of the Atom (1927).- 17. On the Death of H. A. Lorentz (1928).- 18. Philosophy of the Natural Sciences (1928).- 19. Space and Time: From Kant to Einstein (1928).- 20. Causality or Probability? (1928).- 21. The World View of the Exact Sciences (1928).- 22. New Approaches in Science: Physical Research (1929).- 23. New Approaches in Science: Philosophical Research (1929).- 24. New Approaches in Science: Mathematical Research (1929).- 25. The New Philosophy of Science (1929).- 26. Einstein’s New Theory (1929).- 27. Johannes Kepler (1930).- 28. The Present State of the Sciences: The Exact Natural Sciences (1930).- 29. One Hundred Against Einstein (1931).- 30. Is the Human Mind Capable of Giange? (An Interview) (1932).- III / General Scientific Articles.- 31. Metaphysics and Natural Science (1925).- 32. Bertrand Russell (1929).- 33. The Philosophical Significance of Modern Physics (1930).- 34. The Königsberg Conference on the Epistemology of the Exact Sciences (1930).- 35. The Problem of Causality in Physics (1931).- 36. The Physical Concept of Truth (1931).- 37. Heinrich Scholz’History of Logic (1931).- 38. Aims and Methods of Modern Philosophy of Nature (1931).- 39. Kant and Natural Science (1933).- 40. Carnap’sLogical Structure of the World (1933).- 41. Theory of Series and Gödel’s Theorems (Sections 17–22) (1948).- IV / Ethical Analysis.- 42. The Freedom of the Will (1959).- 43. On the Explication of Ethical Utterances (1959).- Bibliography of Writings of Hans Reichenbach.- Index of Names.