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Early Life
Moritz Schlick was born in Belrin in 1882 to a middle-class factory manager. He attended the University of Berlin to study physics. He acquired his PhD in 1904. He wound up in Zurich and began to study Philosophy. In 1910, he took a position at Rostock. He moved onto Kiel before assuming the Chair of Naturphilosophie at Vienna in 1922. -
Epistemology
By 1908, he had written and ethical tract called Lebensweisheit, an analysis of concept-formation called “The Boundaries of Scientific and Philosophical Concept-Formation”, as well as an essay on “The Nature of Truth in Modern Logic.” In “The Boundaries…”, Schlick outlined his understanding of scientific thought, which shows the goal of science as the simplification of the unexplained to happenings which still abide by laws. -
New Physics of Relativity
I’m 1915, Schlick’s essay “The Philosophical Significance of the Principle of Relativity”, Schlick discussed Relativity is an objective, logical difference between the representational framework in which scientific claims may be formulated and the actual claims. -
Pre-Positivist Era
The two works that define this era for Sclick are “General Theory of Knowledge” and “Space and Time in Contemporary Physics.” “General Theory” is notable for its treatment of concepts defined in terms of mathematical equations. In discussion with Einstein, Schlick explained that “Space and Time in Contemporary Physics” was less a representation of the general theory itself than a thorough-going elucidation of the thesis that space and time have now forfeited all objectivity in physics. -
Vienna
In “Problems of Ethics”, Schlick attempted to interpret ethical statements as empirical claims about the means for maximizing happiness. Within a few years Schlick wrote the essays characteristic of his early positivist era. -
Protocol Sentence Controversy
Schlick recoiled at the very idea that the relation between observation sentences and what they describe should be explicated by any means other than philosophical analysis. So I’m his essay “On the Foundations of Knowledge”, he introduced affirmations to explicate the relation between physicalistic protocols and the experiences on which they are grounded. -
Summary
Moritz Schlick is primarily remembered as the leader of the Vienna Circle of Logical Positivists, which flourished in the early 1930s. Few philosophers of science today would be able to say that their views were not influenced by the ideas of the Vienna Circle. https://youtu.be/CMaispXEh94 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/. -
Words
In “Logik und Erkenntnistheorie,” Schlick thought the most important component of languages are two kinds of grammatical rules. First, there are the internal rules which govern the use of expressions in relation to other expressions. Second, are the application rules which regulate the use of expressions in connection with, or application to, observable extra-linguistic situations. Schlick presented his latest conception of grammar in his essay on “Meaning and Verification.” -
Death
As Schlick was leaving class on June 22, 1936, he was shot four times in the legs and abdomen by Johann Nelböck, a former philosophy student who had been threatening Schlick for several years.