Josef Schächter: Philosophical Writings and Documents in the Context of the Vienna Circle: Volume II During and After the Second World War

This book contains a selection of texts written by the Rabbi and Vienna Circle member Josef Schächter after his emigration to Palestine/Israel. These are the most relevant of those texts dealing with the Vienna Circle and its method. They were mostly written in Hebrew and are here available in English for the first time. Schächter’s writings are supplemented by a transcript of an interview with him, a report by his grandson Asher Schechter, and further documentation of relevance.

Lehre und Irrlehre.- Über das Verstehen.- Moritz Schlick, His Character.- Comments on the Theory of Ethics (in: The Superhuman in the Human).- Philosophers and Their Positions (Part on Ludwig.- Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle, in: Judaism and Education in Our Time).- Differentiation and.- Integration (in: Reflections on Dilemmas in Our Time).- The Path of the Vienna Circle (in: Studies in Contemporary Thought).- Strata and Systems in Language (in: On the Way to Faith).- On Physicalism.- Vorwort zu Wittgenstein – Engelmann. Briefe, Begegnungen, Erinnerungen.- Transcript of an Interview (in German) with Schächter conducted by Rosenkranz.- Letter (in German) from Rosenkranz to Stadler.- Josef Schächter – The “Vienna Circle” and the Viennese Intellectual World. A memoir by his grandson Dr. Asher Schechter.- List of Publications Written in Israel.

Esther Heinrich-Ramharter is Associate Professor for Philosophy at the University of Vienna. She holds doctorate degrees in philosophy and in mathematics. Her areas of expertise include philosophy of logic and of mathematics, philosophy of religion, as well as research on Ludwig Wittgenstein and on Simone Weil. She is deputy speaker of the Research Centre “Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society” at the University of Vienna.

Selected book publications: Eine Frage der Farbe. Modalitäten des Zeichengebrauchs in der Logik, Parerga, 2011; (ed.) The Vienna Circle and Religion, Springer, 2022; (ed. with Sabine Mainberger) Linienwissen und Liniendenken, De Gruyter, 2017; (ed. with Michael Staudigl) Religionsphilosophie. Stimmen – Schauplätze – Systeme, Alber, 2023; (ed.) Religionsphilosophie nach Wittgenstein, Metzler, 2024

Friedrich Stadler is retired Full Professor for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Vienna. He is currently Permanent Fellow at the Institute Vienna Circle, which he founded and headed till 2018. In parallel, he acts as director of the Vienna Circle Society and as member of the Commission for History and Philosophy of Science at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He was guest professor and research fellow in Berlin, Minneapolis, Tübingen, and Helsinki. Awards: 2014 Grand Decoration of Honour of the Austrian Republic; 2016 The Honorary Field Memorial Medal Jan Patocka of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; 2017 George Sarton Medal for History of Science of the University of Ghent.

He is the author and of monographs on Ernst Mach and the Vienna Circle, editor and co-editor of 3 book series with Springer covering Logical Empiricism, history and philosophy of science, analytic philosophy, as well as modern intellectual history and exile studies, and the history of the University of Vienna. Editor and Co-editor of edition projects on Ernst Mach and Moritz Schlick. He served as former President of the European Philosophy of Science Association and of the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society.