*Call for Abstracts:*
*Workshop I: Adverse Allies: Logical Empiricism and Austrian EconomicsThe
FWF ESPRIT research project “Adverse Allies: Logical Empiricism and
Austrian Economics”, the Institute of Philosophy and Scientific Method (JKU
Linz), the Institute Vienna Circle (University of Vienna), and the Vienna
Circle Society host two workshops in 2025. The organizers seek submissions
for contributed talks for the first workshop now.Deadline for Submissions:
31.10.2024*
Notification: 30.11.2024
*Workshop I in Vienna: 12.02.-14.02.2025*
Save the date for workshop II in Linz: 23.09.-25.09.2025
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Logical empiricism and Austrian economics are arguably the two
internationally most influential intellectual movements with Viennese
roots. The Vienna Circle and the Austrian School have shaped the
development of philosophical, scientific, and political debate in the 20th
century. In the 21st century, logical empiricism has undergone extensive
re-evaluation, while the Austrian School experiences another revival.
Yet, despite numerous connections and interactions between the two
movements, their relationship has captured surprisingly sparse attention in
the historical and philosophical literature. If an account is provided at
all, logical empiricists and Austrian economists are portrayed as
philosophically, scientifically, and politically antithetical groups. Among
the most frequently mentioned contrastive pairs of catchwords are
empiricism vs apriorism, formal methods vs verbal reasoning, and socialism
vs classical liberalism.
Acknowledging the existence of disagreements between logical empiricism and
the Austrian School, recent scholarship has challenged the received view of
antithetical opposition by reconstructing hitherto neglected
compatibilities and similarities between the two movements.
This workshop aims to advance historical as well as systematic discussions
on the relationship between logical empiricism and Austrian economics.
Contributions that fruitfully inform contemporary debates in philosophy,
methodology, politics, or the sciences are particularly welcome.
*Topics for talks in workshop I include but are not limited to: *
· pros and cons of formal methods in the social sciences (index numbers,
models, …)
· counterfactual reasoning and thought experiments (imaginary
constructions, scientific utopianism, Robinsonades, …)
· the socialist calculation debates
· assessments of social welfare and universal basic income
· notions of rationality, irrationality, and pseudorationality
· justifications of praxeology
· explications of the fundamental axiom of praxeology
· the quest for certainty and fallibilism
· origins and methodology of game theory
· methodological reflections: rational reconstructions, …
*The second workshop in Linz will focus on: · Karl Menger and Felix
Kaufmann as mediators between LE and AE · common influences: Frege,
Husserl, Kant, Mach, Wittgenstein · non-cognitivism, the fact/value
distinction, and the ideal of value-neutrality · the principle of tolerance
and polylogism · logical tolerance, methodological tolerance, political
liberalism · logicism and the logic of action · naturalism vs
antinaturalism, unity vs disunity of science, scientific pluralism and
pseudorationality · essentialism and its discontents (Menger, Wieser,
Neurath, Popper, Rothbard,…) · defenses of democracy in Viennese Late
Enlightenment · expertise, education, and democracy*
*Abstracts should be 300-400 words (including references, if needed) and
submitted here: *
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5Mg7ThW9ufbzUkJcEk7ZodNnraJ7PuiZ…
*Confirmed Speakers:* Erwin Dekker, Catherine Herfeld, Karl-Friedrich
Israel, Reinhard Neck, Elisabeth Nemeth, Edoardo Peruzzi, Lukas Starchl,
Richard Sturn, Adam Tamas Tuboly, Sophie Veigl, Igor Wysocki
*Scientific Committee: *Alexander Linsbichler, Julian Reiss, Georg
Schiemer, Friedrich Stadler
*Queries:* Alexander Linsbichler (alexander.linsbichler(a)jku.at)