Schlick sitting

Moritz Schlick 14 April 1882-22 June 1936

  • Birth

    Moritz Shlick was born on April 14, 1882 in Berlin, Germany to a wealthy family his father was Ernst Albert Schlick.
  • Completion of PhD thesis

    Schlick completed his PhD thesis at the University of Berlin in 1904, where he had studied under Max Planck.
  • Space and Time in Contemporary Physics

    In 1915 Schlick published "Raum and Zeit in der gegenwartigen Physik" which translates to Space and Time in Contemporary Physics, which extended his earlier results by applying Poincare's geometric conventionalism to explain Einstein's general theory of relativity.
  • The Vienna Circle and Logical Positivism

  • Vienna Circle

    In 1922 Schlick assumed the chair of Naturphilosophie at the University of Vienna which was previously held by Ludwig Boltzmann and Ernst Mach. He then created a group of Scientists and Philosophers who met regularly to discuss the philosophical topics in the sciences.
    Oberdan, Thomas, "Moritz Schlick", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/schlick/.
  • Wittgenstein's book

    In the years of 1925-1926 the group studied Wittgenstein's book, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, after studying and discussing the book Schlick encouraged Wittgenstein to return to philosophy.
  • Problems of Ethics

    Between 1926-1930 Schlick finished Problems' of Ethics which surprised his fellow Circlists by including ethics as a variable branch of Philosophy.
  • Contribution to Positivism and Realism

    In 1932-1933 Schlick contributed the most illuminating definitions of positivism as every view " which denies the possibility of metaphysics" (Schlick [1932-1933], p. 206). He defined metaphysics as the doctrine of "true being", "thing in itself" or "transcendental being". He bases his positivism on a kind of epistemology which holds that the only true beings are givens or constituents of experience.
  • Death

    On June 22, 1936 Schlick was murdered by a former student, Johann Nelbock with a pistol because he claimed Schlick's anti-metaphysical philosophy interfered with his moral restraint.