Herbert HOCHBERG: The Positivist and the Ontologist. Bergmann, Carnap and Logical Realism (Studien zur österreichischen Philosophie, Band XXXII), Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam—Atlanta, 2001, 400 pp., ISBN 90-420-1434-2, € 73.
Abstract
Grazer Philosophische Studien 67 (2004), 251252. Herbert HOCHBERG: The Positivist and the Ontologist. Bergmann, Carnap and Logical Realism (Studien zur österreichischen Philosophie, Band XXXII), Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam--Atlanta, 2001, 400 pp., ISBN 90-420-1434-2, 73. This book is closely related to Hochberg's other studies on the history of analytic philosophy, one early work, namely Thought, Fact and Reference. The Origins and Ontology of Logical Atomism (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1978) and one published simultaneously with the reviewed book, namely Russell, Moore, and Wittgenstein. The Revival of Realism (Dr. HänselHohenhausen, Egelsbach). The titles of these works clearly indicate Hochberg's historical interests. Historically speaking, he investigates Moore, Russell, and Wittgenstein as the fathers of analytic philosophy, as well as later representatives of this style of doing philosophy, in particular, Rudolf Carnap and Gustav Bergmann. Systematically speaking, Hochberg focuses on ontological topics such as the nature of facts, particulars, properties, etc. and the ways of describing them in logical terms. The last point indicates more closely Hochberg's general approach to philosophy. It consists in formal logical analysis of philosophical problems. One problem is decisively highlighted in both mentioned works, namely realism, sometimes called logical realism as in the title of the