Gustav Bergmann

{{Short description|Austrian-born American philosopher (1906-1987)}}

{{For|the German Unteroffizier in the Wehrmacht|Gustav Bergmann (soldier)}}

{{Infobox philosopher

|region = Western philosophy

|era = 20th-century philosophy

|image = GustavBergmann berg1.jpg

|caption =

|birth_date = {{birth date|1906|5|4|df=y}}

|birth_place = Vienna, Austria-Hungary

|death_date = {{death date and age|1987|4|21|1906|5|4|df=y}}

|death_place = Iowa City, U.S.

|alma_mater = University of Vienna

|institutions = University of Iowa

|school_tradition = Analytic philosophy
Vienna Circle
Logical positivism (1950s)
Metaphysical realism (1960s)[https://www.ontology.co/biblio/bergmanng.htm "The Ontological Realism of Gustav Bergmann" (Ontology: Theory and History)]

|main_interests = Philosophy of science Metaphysics

|notable_ideas = Coining the term "linguistic turn"Neil Gross, Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher, University Of Chicago Press, 2008, p. xxix.

}}

Gustav Bergmann ({{IPA|de-AT|ˈbɛrɡman|lang}}; May 4, 1906 – April 21, 1987) was an Austrian-American philosopher. He studied at the University of Vienna and was a member of the Vienna Circle. Bergmann was influenced by the philosophers Moritz Schlick, Friedrich Waismann, and Rudolf Carnap, who were members of the Circle.[https://clas.uiowa.edu/philosophy/resources/gustav-bergmann "Gustav Bergmann" (clas.uiowa.edu)] In the United States, he was a professor of philosophy and psychology at the University of Iowa.

Biography

Bergmann was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Vienna in 1928. His dissertation, directed by Walther Mayer, was titled Zwei Beiträge zur mehrdimensionalen Differentialgeometrie. While studying for his doctorate, he was invited to join the Vienna Circle, a group of philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, and others committed to a scientific worldview under the name of logical positivism. In 1930–31, he worked with Albert Einstein in Berlin. Unable as a Jew to find academic employment, Bergmann obtained a J.D. degree from the University of Vienna in 1935, and practiced corporate law until he and his family fled to the United States in 1938. Settling at the University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1939, Bergmann eventually became professor of both philosophy and psychology.

He died in Iowa City.

Bibliography

The Metaphysics of Logical Positivism. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. 1954. (Second edition: Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1967.)
Philosophy of Science. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1957.
Meaning and Existence. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1959.
Logic and Reality. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1964.
Realism: A Critique of Brentano and Meinong. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1967.
New Foundations of Ontology. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1992. Edited by William Heald.
Collected Works. Vol I. II. Frankfurt am Main: Ontos Verlag 2003.

References

Ontology and Analysis: Essays and Recollections about Gustav Bergmann, edited by Laird Addis, Greg Jesson, and Erwin Tegtmeier, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2007.
Fostering the Ontological Turn: Gustav Bergmann (1906–1987), edited by Rosaria Egidi and Guido Bonino, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2008.
Gustav Bergmann: Phenomenological Realism and Dialectical Ontology, edited by Bruno Langlet and Jean-Maurice Monnoyer, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2009.
The Ontological Turn: Studies in the Philosophy of Gustav Bergmann, edited by Moltke Gram and Elmer Klemke, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1974.
The Positivist and the Ontologist: Bergmann, Carnap, and Logical Realism, by Herbert Hochberg, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001.

External links

[http://collguides.lib.uiowa.edu/?RG99.0134 Bergmann archives]
[http://clas.uiowa.edu/philosophy/about/gustav-bergmann Bergmann pictures, biography, bibliography]
[http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/bai/heald.htm Heald on Bergmann]
[http://www.hist-analytic.com/Bergmannintro.htm Hochberg on Bergmann]
[http://www.ontology.co/bergmanng.htm Theory and History of Ontology on Bergmann]
[http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/berg.htm Philosophy Pages on Bergmann]

Category:1906 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:20th-century American philosophers

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century Austrian lawyers

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States

Category:Analytic philosophers

Category:Austrian Jews

Category:Austrian male writers