Repository | Book | Chapter
(1978) Selected writings 1909–1953, Dordrecht, Springer.
It is the lot of philosophy not to enjoy, as do other sciences, a more or less independent existence, but to grow and flourish in tandem with the development of the special sciences. Never has there existed philosophical investigation "as such", resolving philosophical problems through its own springs of knowledge during periods of stagnation in the sciences. Rather, philosophical problems are not seen with all their ramifications, philosophical puzzles not really thoroughly thought out, until investigations in the individual sciences have encompassed a broad range of knowledge and the process of learning has reached a certain maturity, which forms the only possible basis for philosophical activity. We need only recall the philosophy of Plato, which evolved out of a serious concern for mathematics, or the grand system of Kant, which, while purporting to be a system of pure reason, actually represents a thoroughgoing reworking of the mathematical physics of the eighteenth century, which accounts for its overwhelming importance.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-9761-5_27
Full citation:
Reichenbach, H. (1978)., The new philosophy of science [1929d], in H. Reichenbach, Selected writings 1909–1953, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 258-260.
This document is unfortunately not available for download at the moment.