Gustav Bergmann (May 4, 1906 – April 21, 1987) was an Austrian-born American philosopher. He studied at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

and was a member of the

Vienna Circle The Vienna Circle (german: Wiener Kreis) of Logical Empiricism was a group of elite philosophers and scientists drawn from the natural and social sciences, logic and mathematics who met regularly from 1924 to 1936 at the University of Vienna, ch ...

. Bergmann was influenced by the philosophers

Moritz Schlick Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick (; ; 14 April 1882 – 22 June 1936) was a German philosopher, physicist, and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle. Early life and works Schlick was born in Berlin to a wealthy Prussian f ...

Friedrich Waismann Friedrich Waismann (; 21 March 18964 November 1959) was an Austrian mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. He is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle and one of the key theorists in logical positivism. Biography Born to a Jewis ...

, and Rudolf Carnap who were members of the Circle."Gustav Bergmann" (clas.uiowa.edu)
/ref> In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, he was a professor of philosophy and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

Biography

Bergmann was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at the

in 1928. His dissertation, directed by

Walther Mayer Walther Mayer (11 March 1887 – 10 September 1948) was an Austrian mathematician, born in Graz, Austria-Hungary. With Leopold Vietoris he is the namesake of the Mayer–Vietoris sequence in topology.. He served as an assistant to Albert Einstei ...

, was titled ''Zwei Beiträge zur mehrdimensionalen Differentialgeometrie''. While studying for his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

, he was invited to join the

, a group of philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, and others committed to a scientific worldview under the name of logical positivism. In 1930–31, he worked with

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

in Berlin. Unable as a Jew to find academic employment, Bergmann obtained a J.D. degree from the University of Vienna in 1935, and practiced corporate law until he and his family fled to the United States in 1938. Settling at the

in Iowa City in 1939, Bergmann eventually became professor of both philosophy and psychology. He died in Iowa City.

Bibliography

* ''The Metaphysics of Logical Positivism''. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. 1954. (Second edition: Madison,

University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic community; works of fiction, memoir and p ...

, 1967.) * ''Philosophy of Science''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1957. * ''Meaning and Existence''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1959. * ''Logic and Reality''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1964. * ''Realism: A Critique of Brentano and Meinong''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1967. * ''New Foundations of Ontology''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1992. Edited by William Heald. * ''Collected Works. Vol I. II''. Frankfurt am Main: Ontos Verlag 2003.

References

* ''Ontology and Analysis: Essays and Recollections about Gustav Bergmann'', edited by Laird Addis, Greg Jesson, and Erwin Tegtmeier, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2007. * ''Fostering the Ontological Turn: Gustav Bergmann (1906–1987), ''edited by Rosaria Egidi and Guido Bonino, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2008. * ''Gustav Bergmann: Phenomenological Realism and Dialectical Ontology, ''edited by Bruno Langlet and Jean-Maurice Monnoyer, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2009. * ''The Ontological Turn: Studies in the Philosophy of Gustav Bergmann,'' edited by Moltke Gram and Elmer Klemke, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1974. * ''The Positivist and the Ontologist: Bergmann, Carnap, and Logical Realism, ''by Herbert Hochberg, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001.

External links

Bergmann archives

Bergmann pictures, biography, bibliography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergmann, Gustav 1906 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American philosophers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Austrian lawyers American male non-fiction writers Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss Analytic philosophers Austrian Jews Austrian male writers Austrian philosophers Jewish American academics Jewish philosophers Linguistic turn Ontologists Metaphysicians Philosophers from Iowa Philosophers of science University of Iowa faculty University of Vienna alumni Vienna Circle Writers from Vienna

Biography

Bibliography

See also

References

References

External links