Interview: Philosophy of Science in Hungary

Abstract

The interview of Andrew Schumann, the managing editor of Studia Humana with Péter Szegedi, Pofessor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Eötvös University, Hungary. Andrew Schumann: Due to some names such as Imre Lakatos, the Hungarian tradition of philosophy of science became well known. Which contributions of Hungarian philosophers to this subject could you notify as the most important? Péter Szegedi: The first Hungarian who joined to philosophy of science was Béla Juhos (Vienna, 1901–Vienna, 1971), a Hungarian who lived mainly in Vienna. He was a truly logical empiricist member of the inner Vienna Circle all the time. He was interested in the epistemological (erkenntnislogische) foundations of sciences, especially physics. Juhos kept the torch of empiricism alive even after World War II, when – together with Viktor Kraft – he was the central figure of the so-called Third Vienna Circle. The discussions here exerted an influence on Paul K. Feyerabend and Wolfgang Stegmüller, as well. One of the main topics of the Third Circle was the problem of realism, which was later transferred to the English-speaking world and turned into a very important field of philosophy of science.