Albert E. Blumberg (August 10, 1906 – October 8, 1997) was an

American philosopher This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States. {, border="0" style="margin:auto;" class="toccolours" , - ! {{MediaWiki:Toc , - , style="text-al ...

and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

. He was an official of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

for several years before joining the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

as a district leader.

Early life

Albert was born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, to a middle-class Litvak family. He graduated from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

and then furthered his education by acquiring a master's degree from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, studying at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, and receiving a doctorate from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

. While studying in Vienna he became attracted to the

Vienna circle The Vienna Circle (german: Wiener Kreis) of Logical Empiricism was a group of elite philosophers and scientists drawn from the natural and social sciences, logic and mathematics who met regularly from 1924 to 1936 at the University of Vienna, ch ...

Logical Positivists Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, and both of which together are also known as neopositivism, is a movement in Western philosophy whose central thesis was the verification principle (also known as the verifiability criterion of ...

, founded by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

philosopher

Moritz Schlick Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick (; ; 14 April 1882 – 22 June 1936) was a German philosopher, physicist, and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle. Early life and works Schlick was born in Berlin to a wealthy Prussian f ...

Professional life

Within philosophy Albert Blumberg was best known for having co-authored with

Herbert Feigl Herbert Feigl (; ; December 14, 1902 – June 1, 1988) was an Austrian-American philosopher and an early member of the Vienna Circle. He coined the term " nomological danglers". Biography The son of a trained weaver who became a textile designer, ...

a paper which appeared in the

Journal of Philosophy ''The Journal of Philosophy'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal on philosophy, founded in 1904 at Columbia University. Its stated purpose is "To publish philosophical articles of current interest and encourage the interchange of ideas, e ...

entitled, "Logical Positivism: A New Movement In European Philosophy." For logical positivists the discipline of philosophy hinged on one task; to clarify the meanings of concepts and ideas, and what sort of statements really did have any "meaning" in the first place. There are only two distinctions of statements that have any meaning to logical positivists. The first involves

necessary truth Logical truth is one of the most fundamental concepts in logic. Broadly speaking, a logical truth is a statement which is true regardless of the truth or falsity of its constituent propositions. In other words, a logical truth is a statement whic ...

s of logic, mathematics, and ordinary language. The second involves empirical propositions about the world around us that were not necessary truths, instead they are regarded as true with greater or lesser probability. In addition to being a student and professor of philosophy, Albert Blumberg also fought for economic and social reforms. In the year 1933 he joined the Maryland Communist Party where he served for four years as the chair of the

Agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', " propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...

Committee.

Political activism

In 1937 Blumberg resigned his faculty position at Johns Hopkins, publicly announced his party membership, and took on the created position of district administrative secretary for the Communist Party. Blumberg also ran for public office on several occasions, for example, Communist candidate for Mayor of Baltimore City, 1939. As well Blumberg was several times under suspicion by various governmental organizations for communist activities, becoming one of the first convicted under a provision of the 1940 Smith Act. During his senior years Blumberg remained politically active, although not in the communist party. He enjoyed somewhat more success as the Democratic Party district leader in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. He died at the age of 91 near his home in

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References

* Sarkar, Sahota, and Jessica Pfeifer. The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1. Taylor and Francis, 2006. * Smith, Laurence, D. Behaviorism and Logical Positivism: A Reassessment of The Alliance. California: Stanford University press, 1986. * Pederson, Vernon, L. The Communist Party In Maryland, 1919–1957. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2001
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American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent 20th-century American Jews Communist Party USA politicians Jewish socialists Jewish philosophers Jewish American academics Maryland Democrats Maryland socialists Philosophers from Maryland Johns Hopkins University alumni Yale University alumni University of Paris alumni University of Vienna alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty 1906 births 1997 deaths American expatriates in France Activists from Maryland American expatriates in Austria {{US-philosopher-stub

Early life

Professional life

Political activism

See also

References