December 19, 2016 Monday
Bedtime Story
Vienna Circle
In 1930 Tarski was fortunate to be invited to the University of
Vienna as a speaker where he first encountered Kurt Gödel.
In 1935, fortune again came his way through a fellowship that
allowed him to visit Vienna and later Paris where he developed connections with
two important scientific groups, the Vienna Circle and the Unity of Science
movement.
What was this Vienna Circle?
It was a group of philosophers and scientists, including
mathematicians and logicians that was formed somewhere in the first decade of
1900s who would regularly meet at the University of Vienna to discuss science
and philosophy.
Their perspective on knowledge and truth was essentially twofold:
1. Empiricism and positivism: This emphasizes the role of
empirical evidence (especially via experimentation) using our sensory
experience to accrue knowledge.
This is in contrast to knowledge through innate ideas and
traditions.
2. Logical Analysis using symbolic logic: The use of logic was
considered paramount to get to the truth and this lead the group to accept only
two kinds of statements:
(a) Synthetic statements a
posteriori: these include conclusions or theories, even tentative ones following
experience, specifically those from experimental observations.
(b) Analytic statements a
priori: are the statements that are
not based on experience but mathematics, tautologies and deduction from pure
reason.
An example of tautology would be “fatally dead”.
A great example of deduction from pure reason goes like this:
If God is omnipotent, then he should be able to create a being
with free will;
On the other hand, if such a God is also omniscient, then he
should know exactly what such a being will do (thus rendering them without a
free will).
From this Vienna Circle, arose another group of intellectuals who
called themselves Unity of Science.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night and my fellow cousin ape.
Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, may I
suggest this large collection of Kids Songs:
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