Ernest Nagel
Ernest Nagel (November 16, 1901 — September 22, 1985) was among the most important philosophers of science of his time.
Nagel was born in Prague (now capital of the Czech Republic; then part of the Austro Hungarian Empire) and immigrated to the United States at the age of 10 with his family. He received a BSc from the City College of New York in 1923, and earned his PhD from Columbia University in 1930. Except for one year (1966-1967) at Rockefeller University, he spent his entire academic career at Columbia, becoming a University Professor in 1967.
His 1961 masterpiece, The Structure of Science, practically inaugurated the field of analytic philosophy of science. He was the first to propose that by positing analytic equivalencies (or "bridge laws") between the terms of different sciences, one could eliminate all ontological commitments except those required by the most basic science. Along with Rudolf Carnap, Hans Reichenbach, and Carl Hempel, he is one of the major figures of the logical positivist movement.
Nagel wrote An Introduction to Logic and the Scientific Method with Morris Cohen, his CCNY teacher. In 1958, he published with James R. Newman Gödel's proof, a short book explicating Gödel's incompleteness theorems to those not well trained in mathematical logic. He edited the Journal of Philosophy (1939-1956) and the Journal of Symbolic Logic (1940-1946).
He died in New York City.
Philosophy | |
---|---|
Topics | Category listings | Eastern philosophy · Western philosophy | History of philosophy (ancient • medieval • modern • contemporary) |
Lists | Basic topics · Topic list · Philosophers · Philosophies · Glossary · Movements · More lists |
Branches | Aesthetics · Ethics · Epistemology · Logic · Metaphysics · Political philosophy |
Philosophy of | Education · Economics · Geography · Information · History · Human nature · Language · Law · Literature · Mathematics · Mind · Philosophy · Physics · Psychology · Religion · Science · Social science · Technology · Travel ·War |
Schools | Actual Idealism · Analytic philosophy · Aristotelianism · Continental Philosophy · Critical theory · Deconstructionism · Deontology · Dialectical materialism · Dualism · Empiricism · Epicureanism · Existentialism · Hegelianism · Hermeneutics · Humanism · Idealism · Kantianism · Logical Positivism · Marxism · Materialism · Monism · Neoplatonism · New Philosophers · Nihilism · Ordinary Language · Phenomenology · Platonism · Positivism · Postmodernism · Poststructuralism · Pragmatism · Presocratic · Rationalism · Realism · Relativism · Scholasticism · Skepticism · Stoicism · Structuralism · Utilitarianism · Virtue Ethics |
cs:Ernest Nagel de:Ernest Nagel is:Ernest Nagel ro:Ernest Nagel sk:Ernest Nagel fi:Ernest Nagel
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.