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The Rise of Scientific Philosophy Paperback – August 1, 1961

by Hans Reichenbach (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 12 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 333 pages
  • Publisher: University of California Press (August 1, 1961)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0520010558
  • ISBN-13: 978-0520010550
  • Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsMysticism on the rocks
By Curtis L. Wilbur on January 29, 2001
Format: Paperback
Reichenbach pulls no punches. By the time he's finished, traditional, speculative philosophies are dead, buried and left without a headstone. (That these "undead" philosophies continue stalk the land, well, that's another story...)
According to Reichenbach - and his logic is impeccable - while the rationalist philosophers painted their mystical canvases, the parallel development of science, and scientific method handed the empiricists the tools they needed to produce the first grounded philosophic view. The search for certainty had the classic philosophers barking up the wrong tree. And meanwhile, the exploration of the microscopic world, coupled with the creation of a new mathematical tool - statistics - bootstrapped the scientific community into a model of the universe that was not causal, but probabilistic.
And what of ethics? Just as there are no absolute answers to the physical world, Reichenbach leaves the moral bucket empty as well. Your ethics, he argues, are ultimately what you choose to posit for yourself.
There is much more, lurking in this dense and difficult book. Published in 1951 - two years prior to his death - this is a tour-de-force of a man who was a contemporary of Einstein, and a participant in the famed "Weiner Kreiss" (Vienna Circle) which included such mighty minds as Kurt Godel. (See my review of D. Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher, Bach...") Reichenbach was one hot potato, armed with superior weaponry, and ready to take on the world.
The tragedy of this pursuit of consistency, which is the trademark of the scientific view, is that it probably will never come to guide society at large.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starspre-Kantian speculative philosophy debunked
By A Customer on September 29, 1999
Format: Paperback
I am only half way through this AMAZING book, and the revelations are incredible. The first third is a history of philosophy and epistemology up until Kant, and shows you what true science is all about. This is a manifest for clear thought, if I've ever seen one, and I have... Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World". This book explains everything with reason and rationale, he has not yet gone into the metaphysic to explain anything. He doesn't expect the reader to go to another source, he explains it all in the book, says who he got it from, even what book. If you ever wanted to know what the scientific philosophy truly was you have to read this. It is not just about its rise, but explains WHAT it is, with that very important geneological information about how it came about. If you are religious, watch out. It will really shake your world, and you will understand why the highest percentage of agnostics is found in the intellectual, scientific fields that required the intellectual philosophic framework of science in order to be comprehended completely. EVERY SCIENCE STUDENT SHOULD READ THIS! Got to close up the computer lab, and happy reading.
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3.0 out of 5 starsDated, but still relevant
By Fritz-Anton on August 26, 2011
Format: Paperback
It should be pointed out at the outset that while the author of the present classic book was a logical positivist, the author of the present review is not. Indeed, I think that basically all the central claims of the logical positivists were false. However, this important book goes far beyond the central claims of the logical positivist movement and I very much like the spirit in which it was written. Reichenbach tries to show how philosophy can (and ought to) benefit from modern science and, I think, how modern science can benefit from a philosophy that does away with certain outdated ways of thinking. He draws an important distinction between what he calls "speculative philosophy", on the one hand, and "scientific philosophy", on the other hand. The former is identified with the old and associated with building philosophical systems, while the latter is concerned with refining the questions (by logical analysis). Also, the speculative philosophy is associated with rationalism, while scientific philosophy is associated with empiricism. The errors of speculative philosophy are traced back to a heavy reliance of analogies and "picture language" in the place of real explanations and to a misguided search for absolute certainty.

Reichenbach is one of those rare individuals that have deep insights into both philosophy and modern science. His insight into mathematics, geometry, logic and physics is impressive. Philosophy cannot remain unchanged after breakthroughs of the Darwinian theory of evolution, Einstein's theory of relativity and the big bang theory, etc. Philosophers need to take note of scientific results that have relevance for philosophic questions and, I believe, scientists need to take note of philosophy.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsPhilosophy with an Edge
By L. J. Oja on July 29, 2008
Format: Paperback
In an episode of Seinfeld, George makes a comment about physiotherapists, and I think professionals in general. He claims that "everyone's guy is the best". Certainly this can be true for many authors as well.

This is not the case here because I am not enamored with his other works. But in the Rise of Scientific Philosophy, Reichenbach brings you through questions and observations which need addressing. He begins his assault on poor Philosophy on page three, and continues through the book. He separates out the poetic philosophers, from the more tough minded philosophers that actually say something.

I don't think that I am exaggerating when I write: I don't believe someone can truly say they have some philosophical background without having read and digested the work contained with in Reichenbach's book.

But, it is not an easy read, and will take time. But the time taken is very much worth it.

Note: I must confess that I bought my copy of the book fully a year before actually reading it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsPHILOSOPHY AS A “METHOD OF ANALYSIS … AFTER THE PATTERN OF SCIENTIFIC...

Hans Reichenbach (1891-1953) was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical empiricism (he was the founder of the “Berlin Circle”); he wrote other books... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Steven H Propp
5.0 out of 5 starsPHILOSOPHY AS A “METHOD OF ANALYSIS … AFTER THE PATTERN OF SCIENTIFIC...

Hans Reichenbach (1891-1953) was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical empiricism (he was the founder of the “Berlin Circle”); he wrote other books... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Steven H Propp
5.0 out of 5 starsPHILOSOPHY AS A “METHOD OF ANALYSIS … AFTER THE PATTERN OF SCIENTIFIC...

Hans Reichenbach (1891-1953) was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical empiricism (he was the founder of the “Berlin Circle”); he wrote other books... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Steven H Propp
5.0 out of 5 starsPHILOSOPHY AS A "METHOD OF ANALYSIS ... AFTER THE PATTERN OF...

Hans Reichenbach (1891-1953) was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical empiricism (he was the founder of the "Berlin Circle"); he wrote other... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Steven H Propp
5.0 out of 5 starsI love this book - have read it twice

I am neither a scientist nor a philosopher, but I like to dabble in reading about both, so this is a great combination. Read more

Published on December 19, 2013 by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsReichenbach's "The Rise of Scientific Philosophy" is a popular...

A popular positivist classic, Reichenbach's "The Rise of Scientific Philosophy" is typical in it's simplistic overconfidence shared with an even "greater" classic, A.J. Read more

Published on February 3, 2013 by Brisbane reader
1.0 out of 5 starsUtterly stupid

As a philosophy professor for three decades, I have taught this wretched book several times in survey courses in 20th century philosophy. Read more

Published on February 21, 2011 by BDF
5.0 out of 5 starsA Life-Changing Book

I read Reichenbach's Rise of Scientific Philosophy when I was a freshman in college, forty years ago. Read more

Published on January 16, 2003 by BangorBill

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