The Institute Vienna Circle and the Vienna Circle Society cordially invite
you to the
7th Arthur Pap Lecture
Francesca Biagioli (University of Turin)
The Relative Necessity of the Kantian A Priori: Cohen, Cassirer, and
Reichenbach
Thursday, March 27, 2025
5 pm
Alte Kapelle am Campus
University of Vienna
Hof 2, Eingang 2.8
Spitalgasse 2-4
1090 Vienna
For those who can't make it to Vienna, the event will also be streamed via
YouTube: <https://www.youtube.com/live/4SwyYaZRnMA> Link
Registration: <mailto:vcs@univie.ac.at> vcs(a)univie.ac.at
No registration fee
Abstract
A priori knowledge in the Kantian sense is characterized as being
independent from experience, insofar as it is necessary for the possibility
of experience in general. This notably includes the fundamental principles
of geometry and physics. With scientific changes such as non-Euclidean
geometry and relativistic physics, there arose the question whether the
Kantian a priori ought to be revised in the light of the best current
theories or replaced by pragmatic considerations or conventions. This talk
will offer a review of the progressive relativization of the Kantian a
priori from the Marburg School of neo-Kantianism to Hans Reichenbachs early
work. It will then use Paps taxonomy to differentiate among these early
relativizing strategies and to contrast them with attempts to relativize the
Kantian a priori in contemporary philosophy of science.
Short Bio
Francesca Biagioli is Associate Professor of History of Philosophy at the
University of Turin. Previously, she has been a postdoc at the University of
Vienna and at the Zukuftskolleg-University of Konstanz, and a visiting
fellow in the Pittsburgh Center for Philosophy of Science. Her research
focuses on different traditions within the neo-Kantian movement including
Marburg neo-Kantianism, critical realism, the Neo-Friesian School, and on
the epistemological views of philosopher-scientists such as Hermann von
Helmholtz, Henri Poincaré, Hermann Weyl, Federigo Enriques. She has
published the monograph Space, Number, and Geometry from Helmholtz to
Cassirer and articles in journals including HOPOS, Studies in History and
Philosophy of Science, British Journal for the History of Philosophy,
Philosophia Mathematica.
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