Carl Gustav Hempel

By gironisha

  • Birth

    Carl Gustav Hempel was born in Germany in 1905. He later moved to the United States where he became a prominent philosopher of science and language. His work was influenced by the rise of logical positivism during his time.

  • Studies in the Logic of Confirmation

    This book brings up a paradox of confirmation that challenged empiricism. He also introduced the idea of "confirmation functions" to measure which evidence supports a hypothesis. Hempel, Carl G. "Studies in the Logic of Confirmation (I.)." Mind 54.213 (1945): 1-26.

  • The Deductive-Nomological Model of Scientific Explanation

    The D-N model differs from the causal-explanatory model as well as the unification model of scientific explanations, to name a few. Hempel provided an alternate idea that offered a different perspective on what makes a scientific explanation. This YouTube video explains in more detail the D-N Model of Scientific Explanation.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cyMbz89Xg Hempel, Carl G., and Paul Oppenheim. The deductive-nomological model of scientific explanation. na, 1999.

  • Problems and Changes in the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning

    Hempel critiques the ideas of logical positivism and the empiricist criterion of meaning. He talks about the language of science and how there are terms that don't have empirical equivalents. This helped lead the discussion of and the exploration of meanings and empirical evidence related to scientific language. Hempel, Carl G. "Problems and changes in the empiricist criterion of meaning." Revue internationale de philosophie (1950): 41-63.

  • The Philosophy of Natural Science

    In this book, Hempel expands on his D-N model of scientific explanation as well as explores concepts such as explanation, scientific laws, predictability and confirmation, philosophy of explanation, and empirical significance. Hempel, Carl G. "Philosophy of natural science." British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 18.1 (1967).

  • Died

    During his lifetime and even after his death, Hempel's work encouraged the discussion of the problems related to logical positivism. Even after his death, many philosophers have expounded upon his explanations.