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Moritz Schlick

By Bohemianplace5
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    Birth/Death date

    Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick was a German philosopher, physicist, and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle. He was Born in Berlin, Germany and passed away in Vienna, Austria.

  • Early life

    Early life
    Moritz was born into a wealthy Prussian family in Berlin, Germany. At the young age of 16 he was very impressed by the works of Descartes, Schopenhauer, and especially Friedrich Nietzsche. He studied physics at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Lausanne, and, ultimately, the University of Berlin under Max Planck. He had a huge distrust toward any metaphysical speculation because he believed that mathematical physics could truly help him to obtain true knowledge.

  • Education

    Education
    In 1904 he completed his PhD thesis at the University of Berlin. His thesis was titled Über die Reflexion des Lichts in einer inhomogenen Schicht (On the Reflection of Light in a Non-Homogeneous medium). Schlick attended other schools like the University of Heidelberg, Lausanne and Rostock. In 1908 he published Lebensweisheit (The Wisdom of Life). His theory that happiness is obtained through the pursuit of personal fulfillment and not just the passing pleasures of life.

  • philosophical achievements

    philosophical achievements
    In 1917, he published Space and Time in Contemporary Physics his version of new physics of Relativity which was highly acclaimed by Albert Einstein himself. Just a year later the first edition of his influential General Theory of Knowledge was published as well. This was all before he had joined the Vienna circle.

  • Vienna Circle

    Vienna Circle
    In 1922 Schlick assumed the chair of Naturphilosophie at the University of Vienna. He would go on to be invited to lead a a group of scientists who would meet and discuss on a regular basis on the philosophical topics in the sciences. Early members included the mathematician Hans Hahn and not too long after were joined by Rudolf Carnap, Friedrich Waismann and others. In the beginning the called themselves the Ernst Mach association but eventually they became best known a the Vienna Circle.