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Born
Carl Gustav Hempel was born in Oranienburg, Germany on January 8 1905. He was a writer and philosopher who was key player in the "Logical Positivism" movement of the 1930's and 1940's. Later to be termed "Logical Empiricism" was standard in scientific explanation of the 1950's and 1960's. Reference
Fetzer, James, "Carl Hempel", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/hempel/. -
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Lifespan
Carl Hempel’s approach “was to formulate an inductive logic that looked as much as possible like deductive logic, borrowing ideas from deductive logic whenever possible” (Peter Godfrey-Smith). -
University of Berlin
Carl Hempel studied "philosophy, physics and mathematics at the Universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg before coming to the University of Berlin in 1925"(Fetzer). While at the University of Berlin, Carl studied with Hans Reichenbach. -
Studied in Vienna
"Hempel spent the fall semester at the University of Vienna, where he studied with Carnap, Moritz Schlick, and Frederick Waismann, who were advocates of logical positivism and members of (what came to be known as) 'the Vienna Circle', "(Fetzer). -
Published “The Function of General Laws in History"
"Hempel's general theory of scientific explanation held that all scientific explanations require subsumption under general laws"(Little). -
Published “Studies in the Logic of Confirmation”
In the Paradox of Confirmation Hempel "evaluates the conditions under which an empirical generalization would be confirmed or disconfirmed by instances or non-instances of its antecedent and consequent"(Fetzer). Hempel uses Nicod's criterion and uses black raven's to demonstrate the "Raven Paradox". (Whiteley) -
Published "Studies in the Logic of Explanation"
Along with Paul Oppenheim, The question "why?" instead of "what?" is asked in relation to our experiences in the world. -
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Taught at Princeton
Hempel started teaching at the University of Princeton in 1955, where he influenced professional philosophers and wrote several articles. He retired from Princeton in 1973. -
Published "Deductive-Nomological vs. Statistical Explanation"
Here is a video that explains Hempel's "Deductive-Nomological vs. Statistical Explanation" in better detail. "An explanation of E is a deductive argument of which E is the conclusion and which uses at least one law (where a law is an exception less regularity between causes and effects)".
https://youtu.be/WmpEqZQ60n8 -
Published "Aspects of Scientific Explanation"
Hempel wrote "Aspects of Scientific Explanation: And Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science". Logical Empiricism was the dominant philosophy of science in the middle part of the 20th century. -
Published "Philosophy of Natural Science"
"Hempel’s 'Philosophy of Natural Science'(1966) was for many years the standard introduc-tory textbook in this area. It opens with the story of Semmelweiss and is a clear and reasonable statement of mainstream twentieth-century empiricism"(Peter Godfrey-Smith). -
References copied to textbox of assignment
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Death
Carl Gustav Hempel died at the age of 92.
