Title

Felicitology: Neurath’s Naturalization of Ethics

Department/School

Philosophy

Date

2011

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1086/659399

Abstract

In this article, I aim to reconstruct Otto Neurath’s naturalistic program for practical philosophy. This program, which he calls “felicitology,” was intended as a version of ethics suitable for the “scientific worldview” of the logical empiricists. I begin by situating Neurath’s ethical concerns in the context of the debate between his fellow Austro-Marxists and the Marburg neo-Kantians. I then show why, contrary to many logical empiricists, Neurath thought that ethical considerations had an important role to play in scientific inquiry. I argue that this conclusion follows from his contribution to the protocol-sentence debate of the early 1930s. Finally, I show how Neurath’s advocacy of unified science, democratic socialism, a world economy, and his method of visual learning all relate to his program for felicitology.

Volume

1

Issue

2

Published in

HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science

Citation/Other Information

Stuchlik, Joshua. “Felicitology: Neurath’s Naturalization of Ethics.” HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 1, no. 2 (2011): 183-208. https://doi.org/10.1086/659399

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