The Berlin Circle () was a group that maintained logical empiricist views about

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

History

The "Berlin Circle" had its roots in seminars by

Hans Reichenbach Hans Reichenbach (; ; September 26, 1891 – April 9, 1953) was a leading philosopher of science, educator, and proponent of logical empiricism. He was influential in the areas of science, education, and of logical empiricism. He founded the ''G ...

between 1926-1928, resulting in the formation of a group that included Reichenbach, Kurt Grelling and Walter Dubislav among others. Independently, the Machist philosopher Joseph Petzoldt and others founded the ''local Berlin group'' (German: "Berliner Ortsgruppe") of the ''International society for empirical philosophy'' (German: "Internationale Gesellschaft für empirische Philosophie"), which was subsequently joined by the members of Reichenbach's group as well. The society was renamed in 1928 as ''Berlin society for empirical philosophy'' (German: "Berliner Gesellschaft für empirische Philosophie"), and after Petzoldt's death in 1929, the society was essentially taken over by Reichenbach's group, who in 1931 rebranded it as ''Berlin society for scientific philosophy'' (German: "Berliner Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Philosophie"). Additional members of the group include philosophers and scientists such as

Carl Gustav Hempel Carl Gustav "Peter" Hempel (; ; January 8, 1905 – November 9, 1997) was a German writer, philosopher, logician, and epistemologist. He was a major figure in Logical positivism, logical empiricism, a 20th-century movement in the philosophy ...

, David Hilbert and Richard von Mises. Together with the Vienna Circle, they published the journal '' Erkenntnis'' ("Knowledge") edited by

Rudolf Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. ...

and Reichenbach, and organized several congresses and colloquia concerning the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

, the first of which was held in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in 1929. The Berlin Circle had much in common with the Vienna Circle, but the philosophies of the circles differed on a few subjects, such as

probability Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...

and conventionalism. Reichenbach insisted on calling his philosophy logical empiricism, to distinguish it from the logical positivism of the Vienna Circle. Few people today make the distinction, and the words are often used interchangeably. Members of the Berlin Circle were particularly active in analyzing the philosophical and

logical consequence Logical consequence (also entailment or logical implication) is a fundamental concept in logic which describes the relationship between statement (logic), statements that hold true when one statement logically ''follows from'' one or more stat ...

s of the advances in contemporary

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, especially the theory of relativity. Apart from that, they denied the

soundness In logic and deductive reasoning, an argument is sound if it is both Validity (logic), valid in form and has no false premises. Soundness has a related meaning in mathematical logic, wherein a Formal system, formal system of logic is sound if and o ...

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

and traditional philosophy and asserted that many philosophical problems are indeed meaningless. After the rise of Nazism, several of the group's members emigrated to other countries, including Reichenbach, who moved to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in 1933 and later to the United States in 1938; Dubislav emigrated to

in 1936; Hempel moved to Belgium in 1934 and later to the United States in 1939; and Grelling was killed in a concentration camp. A younger member of the Berlin Circle or Berlin School to leave Germany was Olaf Helmer who joined the RAND Corporation and played an important role in the development of the Delphi method used for predicting future trends, and other early forms of social technology.''Berlin School of Logical Empiricism'' by Nicholas Rescher (Springer, 2006). After emigrating to various countries the group effectively came to an end, but not without influencing a wide range of philosophers of the 20th century, its method having been especially influential on analytic philosophy and futurology.

References

{{positivism Logical positivism 1930s in Berlin Philosophy of science Weimar culture