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The Life of Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach was born in Hamburg, Germany on September 26th, 1891. He studied civil engineering in Stuttgart from 1910 to 1911. After that, he began studying physics, philosophy, and mathematics in various parts of Germany. After attending a lecture on relativity by Albert Einstein he became influenced by his work which established a life-long friendship with Einstein. Reichenbach had an incredible life and lived until April 9th, 1953. -
Notable Date
Reichenbach was described as “the greatest empiricist of the 20th century” (Salmon, 1977a). Reichenbach wrote several works that discussed empiricism and its relation to the philosophy of science and epistemology. His most notable and developed work was “Experience and Prediction” written in 1938 -
Experience and Prediction
In his book “Experience and Prediction” (1938) he explores the nature of empirical knowledge, induction, and the relationship between experience and scientific prediction. Additionally, he stressed the importance of scientific language to be coordinated with physical procedures. This further clarified how to reason, make predictions, and draw inferences from empirical data. -
Reichenbach as an Empiricist
Overall, Reichenbach was a key figure during the logical empiricist movement. He along with other members of the Vienna Circle had helped shape the importance of empirical evidence, logical analysis, and the verification of scientific assertions through observation and experience. -
Youtube about Reichenbach
In this video, Philosopher Hilary Putnam discusses Reichenbach on how the philosophical views of a given philosopher change and mature. It starts at 1:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6LJAllrDS4&t=19s -
Works Cited
Glymour, Clark, and Frederick Eberhardt. “Hans Reichenbach.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 23 Mar. 2021, plato.stanford.edu/entries/reichenbach/#MatVie.
“Putnam on Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater.” YouTube, 9 Oct. 2013, youtu.be/B6LJAllrDS4?si=Drx_dNYhbiqIV_zj.