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Viennese philosophy
at the turn of the century led the charge on the
continent against the metaphysical penchant of
German philosophy. Already the thought of Franz
Brentano helped push Viennese thinkers toward
positivistic and strictly logical forms of
philosophizing. The scientist and philosopher Ernst
Mach was a radical sensationalist who sought to
undermine the Kantian duality between "essence"
(thing-in-itself) and "appearance" by collapsing
all knowledge into the domain of perception. Rudolf
Carnap sought out and attempted to destroy
metaphysical thought wherever it appeared in
philosophical discourse. Ludwig Wittgenstein
attempted to draw a strict line between the realms
of what can be known with accuracy and what would
always escape the grasp of reason, the
"mystical." |
