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Earnest Nagel: University of Columbia (1901-1985)

By jenningsalexsis

  • Travel to the U.S - The Beginning

    Travel to the U.S - The Beginning
    Earnest Nagel born was born in Bohemia, now part of Czechoslovakia or the Czech Republic, in 1901. His family emigrated to the U.S when he was ten years old. He received his Bachelors degree in science from the College of the City of New York in 1923, his Masters in 1925 from Columbia University, and finally his Doctorate in 1931, illustrating the beginning of his contribution to the philosophy of science.

  • Logic + Philosophy = Science Methodology

    Logic + Philosophy = Science Methodology
    Nagel began teaching at the Columbia University. Here is where Nagel combined his knowledge as a logistician with philosophy to develop a process that is now known as the "Scientific Method". Having previously written two books "Principles of the Theory of Probability and The Logic of Measurement" in 1930, Nagel collaborated with his NYC instructor Morris Cohen (1880-1947) to publish "An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method", a widely used textbook until the 1950s, in 1934.

  • Nagels's Legacy

    Nagels's Legacy
    Through the years, during his teaching, Nagel went on to write several influential philosophical articles, books, and journals on the concept of scientific thought and criticism. Being verse and explorative in the science, Nagel critiqued social science, biology, logic, psychology, language, and naturalism. His most noted works during this period are "Logic Without Ontology" (1945), "Sovereign Reason" (1954), and "Logic without Metaphysics" (1956).

  • "Bridge Laws" and Scientific Reduction

    "Bridge Laws" and Scientific Reduction
    Nagel proposed the concept of "Bridge Laws" or Scientific Reduction. In his work "The Structure of Science" (1961), Nagel proposed that scientific logic could be used unanimously across all sciences and only the scientific terms assigned to sciences separated them. Bridging terms (connecting their meanings) and reducing ontology, their natural definitions, to the base of the function of the word or term, allows scientific terms to be similar and used in each practice.

  • Conclusion

    Conclusion
    Earnest Nagel passed away of pneumonia in New York City in 1985. Before his passing, the renown science philosopher received several achievements and recognitions for his work, possessing prestigious roles as President of The American Academy of Arts and Science (1961-1963), Professor Emeritus at Columbia University (1970), elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1978), and received the Nicholas Murray Butler Medal from Columbia University in 1980. https://youtu.be/TjChzZmuPdY