The Turning Point in Philosophy

Introduction

Schlick’s short essay opens the first volume of the journal Erkenntnis (1930/31), edited by Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach as the organ of logical empiricism. He announces a decisive turn: thanks to modern logic, as developed by Frege, Russell and above all Wittgenstein, the endless conflict of philosophical systems can be brought to an end. Philosophy does not compete with the sciences in establishing truths; its task is to make clear what statements mean, and what cannot be clarified is not a deep problem but nonsense. The essay is a concise programme of the Vienna Circle and an early statement of the “linguistic turn”.

Connections

Builds on

• Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus1921 · Ludwig Wittgenstein

Taken up in

• Language, Truth and Logic1936 · A. J. Ayer