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Born
Carl Gustav Hempel, known as “Peter” to his friends, was born near Berlin, Germany, on January 8, 1905. He was "instrumental in the transformation of the dominant philosophical movement of the 1930s and 40s, which was known as 'logical positivism', into the more nuanced position known as 'logical empiricism'" (Fetzer). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmpEqZQ60n8 -
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The Life of Carl Gustav Hempel
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Studied at the University of Berlin
"He studied philosophy, physics and mathematics at the Universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg before coming to the University of Berlin in 1925, where he studied with Hans Reichenbach... Hempel’s commitment to explications of the nature of cognitive significance, of scientific explanation, and of scientific rationality would become the hallmark of his research, which exerted great influence on professional philosophers... of the 20th Century" (Fetzer). -
Published “The Function of General Laws in History"
"In 1942 Carl Hempel published the paper 'The Function of General Laws in History,' engendering much controversy while also introducing the question of historical explanation in the philosophy of history" (Dewulf).
The paper "contains the first version of what will later become known as the deductive-nomological model of scientific explanation" (Jeffrey). -
Published 3 Important Papers
Hempel "published “Studies in the Logic of Confirmation”, “Geometry and Empirical Science”, and “The Nature of Mathematical Truth” (all in 1945), before leaving City College for Yale" (Fetzer). -
Published "Studies in the Logic of Explanation"
"As Hitler increased his power in Germany, Hempel, who was not Jewish but did not support the Nazi regime, moved to Brussels and began collaborating with Paul Oppenheim, which would result in several classic papers, including 'Studies in the Logic of Explanation'" (Fetzer). -
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Associate Professor
Hempel "was an Associate Professor at Yale University from 1948 to 1955" (Fetzer). -
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Stuart Professor of Philosophy
Hempel "moved to Princeton as Stuart Professor of Philosophy, a post he held until mandatory retirement at age 68 in 1973" (Fetzer). -
Published "Deductive-Nomological vs. Statistical Explanation” and “Explanation in Science and in History”
Hempel published "Deductive-Nomological vs. Statistical Explanation” and “Explanation in Science and in History” in 1962 (Fetzer). -
Published a collection, "Aspects of Scientific Explanation"
"A classic collection of his studies, Aspects of Scientific Explanation (1965c), became a scholar’s bible for generations of graduate students" (Fetzer). -
Extended List of Primary Works by Hempel
(Added to "Text Submission" portion of the assignment) (Fetzer). -
Death
Carl Gustav Hempel dies at age 92 on November 9, 1997. His legacy lives on. "Hempel demonstrated that, without standards to separate science from pseudo-science, it would be impossible to distinguish frauds, charlatans, and quacks from the real thing (Hempel 1979, 1983)" (Fetzer). -
Bibliography
(Added to "Text Submission" portion of the assignment)