Ernest nagel philosophy 1934 1950 250x250

Ernest Nagel

By rich.ring

  • Birth

    Birth
    Ernest Nagel was born on Nov 16, 1901 to mother Frida Weiss and father Walter Nagel, in Nové Město, Bohemia, which would later be dissolved and become part of the Austria-Hungary Empire. Nagel would soon immigrate to the United States at the age of 10, becoming a citizen in 1919.

  • Education and Early Career

    Education and Early Career
    1923-1967: Nagel spent his early adult life teaching within the New York City public school system, during which he attended City College of New York for his undergraduate work. After obtaining his PhD at Columbia University, Nagel began teaching philosophy at the University. During his time as a professor Nagel also served as an editor for two academic journals, the Journal of Philosophy and the Journal of Symbolic Logic.

  • An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method

    An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method
    Nagel was a pioneer in Scientific Logic, learning from his mentor Morris Cohen at City College, Nagel focused on the role of reasoning in science. Nagel would complete his publication, An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method. This publication is considered to be one of the bedrocks of scientific philosophy, highlighting logical principles within the scientific method across multiple academic disciplines.
    Cohen, Morris,and Ernest Nagel. An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method. 1934.

  • Logic without Ontology

    Logic without Ontology
    1944: Nagel publishes Logic without Ontology. This work would sum up Nagel’s concepts of Logic and Mathematics in linguistic terms. His concepts were molded via logical positivism, a theory he began to adapt after spending time in Europe studying the works of Rudolf Carnap and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Nagel is credited with bringing these ideas back to America from Europe.
    Nagel, Ernest (1945). Logic Without Ontology. _Journal of Symbolic Logic_10(1):16-18

  • Death and Legacy

    Death and Legacy
    Ernest Nagel would pass away on Sept 20, 1985 in New York, and would go down as one of America’s greatest Scientific Philosophers. Nagel believed that logic and the scientific method was valid not only in the hard sciences, but in any topic. In 2011, Nagel was inducted into the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry’s Pantheon of Skeptics.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXWAXtQK6zE&t=232s