The Rise of Scientific Philosophy

In an episode of Seinfeld, George makes a comment about physiotherapists, and I think professionals in general. He claims that "everyone's guy is the best". Certainly this can be true for many authors as well. This is not the case here because I am not enamored with his other works. But in the Rise of Scientific Philosophy, Reichenbach brings you through questions and observations which need addressing. He begins his assault on poor Philosophy on page three, and continues through the book. He separates out the poetic philosophers, from the more tough minded philosophers that actually say something. I don't think that I am exaggerating when I write: I don't believe someone can truly say they have some philosophical background without having read and digested the work contained with in Reichenbach's book. But, it is not an easy read, and will take time. But the time taken is very much worth it. Note: I must confess that I bought my copy of the book fully a year before actually reading it.

I read Reichenbach's Rise of Scientific Philosophy when I was a freshman in college, forty years ago. I have read many books over the years, but to this day I would say that this is the most influential book of my life. I started college as an ordinary Christian protestant. A philosophy course taught me about critical thinking. Then I started reading Reichenbach over Christmas vacation and I found it so fascinating that I couldn't put it down. I underlined a lot of passages. I added lots of exclamation points!!! By the time I was finished I was no longer a Christian. I was an atheist. Reichenbach makes it clear that you don't have to have religion to be a good, moral person. For a while I was a militant atheist, but I soon matured out of that. Still wanting something to belong to, I was a Humanist with a capital H for awhile. Then I joined an ultra-liberal Unitarian church that didn't require people to believe any doctrine, but which discussed all sorts of philosophical and religious views and emphasized the importance of freedom of speech and religion. Now, after much reading in psychology, anthropology and philisophy, I continue to be fascinated by the need for religion as a universal human characteristic. Nobody can deny the power of religious beliefs to affect human emotions and behavior, for both good and evil. But some people are capable of deeper, more critical thinking about religion. Some people have the strength to exist and thrive without a God, but with love for people, for human rights, and for the natural world. This book is for those people. ...

Reichenbach pulls no punches. By the time he's finished, traditional, speculative philosophies are dead, buried and left without a headstone. (That these "undead" philosophies continue stalk the land, well, that's another story...) According to Reichenbach - and his logic is impeccable - while the rationalist philosophers painted their mystical canvases, the parallel development of science, and scientific method handed the empiricists the tools they needed to produce the first grounded philosophic view. The search for certainty had the classic philosophers barking up the wrong tree. And meanwhile, the exploration of the microscopic world, coupled with the creation of a new mathematical tool - statistics - bootstrapped the scientific community into a model of the universe that was not causal, but probabilistic.And what of ethics? Just as there are no absolute answers to the physical world, Reichenbach leaves the moral bucket empty as well. Your ethics, he argues, are ultimately what you choose to posit for yourself.There is much more, lurking in this dense and difficult book. Published in 1951 - two years prior to his death - this is a tour-de-force of a man who was a contemporary of Einstein, and a participant in the famed "Weiner Kreiss" (Vienna Circle) which included such mighty minds as Kurt Godel. (See my review of D. Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher, Bach...") Reichenbach was one hot potato, armed with superior weaponry, and ready to take on the world.The tragedy of this pursuit of consistency, which is the trademark of the scientific view, is that it probably will never come to guide society at large. Empty as it is, it is unacceptable to the majorities, whom Reichenbach was certainly not writing to, and who have no working concept of the scientific method. Most people do not want to hear that there are no ultimate answers.One very big problem I see with this philosophy lies not with its truthfulness, but in its usefulness. We humans have a tough situation all around. We have a state of awareness which far exceeds that of our animal brethren, but we are bound with all the other animal traits, including mortality. Therefore, since we became aware of our frailties, we have consistently sought a coping mechanism. The rationalist view offered some hope - be it a blatant lie - but scientific philosophy, alas, does not. In truth, it runs counter to any coping mechanism one might choose to create. It is certainly not a philosophy for the weak and sick. This is the largest difficulty I see with its acceptance. As correct as Reichenbach may be, how can we stomach sending our children into a world where there's no intrinsic good or bad? How can we prepare them? The search for an easy answer may be wrong - but it's easy! And like water, humanity will likely take the easy path. There are many sweeter smelling flowers out there. Why choose this one? The author could have spent some effort making this philosophy more appealing to t

I am only half way through this AMAZING book, and the revelations are incredible. The first third is a history of philosophy and epistemology up until Kant, and shows you what true science is all about. This is a manifest for clear thought, if I've ever seen one, and I have... Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World". This book explains everything with reason and rationale, he has not yet gone into the metaphysic to explain anything. He doesn't expect the reader to go to another source, he explains it all in the book, says who he got it from, even what book. If you ever wanted to know what the scientific philosophy truly was you have to read this. It is not just about its rise, but explains WHAT it is, with that very important geneological information about how it came about. If you are religious, watch out. It will really shake your world, and you will understand why the highest percentage of agnostics is found in the intellectual, scientific fields that required the intellectual philosophic framework of science in order to be comprehended completely. EVERY SCIENCE STUDENT SHOULD READ THIS! Got to close up the computer lab, and happy reading.