Scientific Philosophy from Kant to Kuhn and Beyond – Michael Friedman (Stanford)

Abstract: These lectures report on my recent work in tracing out a path through a variety of philosophical attempts to appropriate developments in contemporaneous science on behalf of an evolving conception of “scientific” philosophy beginning with Kant and extending to the present.  I concentrate, in particular, on Kant and the post-Kantian tradition.  This includes the Naturphilosophie of Schelling and Hegel, the neo-Kantian reaction to Naturphilosophie initiated by Helmholtz, and the ensuing contributions to nineteenth and early twentieth century philosophy and science by Mach, Poincaré, and Einstein.  I then consider the neo-Kantianism of Ernst Cassirer and (yes) Thomas Kuhn, which finally leads to my own attempt to develop a post-Kuhnian approach to the philosophy of science in the light of this history.