Wolfgang Stegmüller (; June 3, 1923 – June 11, 1991) was a German-Austrian philosopher who made important contributions in

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...

and

analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United Sta ...

Biography

W. Stegmüller studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

. In 1944 he graduated as "Diplom-Volkswirt" and one year later he obtained a PhD in economics. Also at the University of Innsbruck he obtained in 1947 a PhD in philosophy with the thesis ''Erkenntnis und Sein in der modernen Ontologie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Erkenntnismetaphysik Nicolai Hartmanns: eine kritische Untersuchung''. In 1949 he

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

with the thesis ''Sein, Wahrheit und Wert in der heutigen Philosophie''. After a stay of one year at the University of Oxford in 1954 he returned to the University of Innsbruck where he was appointed as associate professor for philosophy in 1956. After stays as visiting professor at the Universities of Kiel and Bonn he received a call from the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. Here in 1958 he was appointed professor for philosophy, logic, and philosophy of sciences and became director of the "Seminar II". Except for two stays at as a visiting professor in 1962/63 and 1964 at the University of Pennsylvania he remained in Munich and ran there a center for

analytical philosophy Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United Sta ...

until his retirement in 1990. From 1977 to 1979 he also was dean of the faculty for philosophy, philosophy of science, and statistics. Stegmüller was from 1966 on a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and from 1967 on a member of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

. 1972 he became a member of the French Institut International de Philosophie, located in Paris. He also was a member of the International Academy of Science, Munich founded in 1980.Selection of IAS-ICSD Founding Members
/ref> In 1989 W. Stegmüller was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Innsbruck. After his retirement he was elected as honorary president of the Gesellschaft für Analytische Philosophie (Society for Analytical Philosophy).

Work

Stegmüller can be credited with essential contributions to the dissemination of ideas of

and

in 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 **Ger ...

-speaking world. In his

inaugural lecture In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugur ...

at the

, he outlined the four problems in

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

, which he focussed on in his later work: * The problem of

induction Induction, Inducible or Inductive may refer to: Biology and medicine * Labor induction (birth/pregnancy) * Induction chemotherapy, in medicine * Induced stem cells, stem cells derived from somatic, reproductive, pluripotent or other cell t ...

* The fundamental role of

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

* The problem of

theoretical concept A theoretical definition defines a term in an academic discipline, functioning as a proposal to see a phenomenon in a certain way. A theoretical definition is a proposed way of thinking about potentially related events. Theoretical definitions cont ...

s * The problem of

scientific explanation Models of scientific inquiry have two functions: first, to provide a descriptive account of ''how'' scientific inquiry is carried out in practice, and second, to provide an explanatory account of ''why'' scientific inquiry succeeds as well as it ap ...

Logic

In his books ''Das Wahrheitsproblem und die Idee der Semantik'' (''The Problem of Truth and the idea of Semantics'', 1957), and ''Unvollständigkeit und Unentscheidbarkeit'' (''Incompleteness and Undecidability'', 1959) Stegmüller disseminated the ideas of Alfred Tarski and

Rudolf Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. He ...

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy Philosophy (f ...

and

logics Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

as well as those of

Kurt Gödel Kurt Friedrich Gödel ( , ; April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered along with Aristotle and Gottlob Frege to be one of the most significant logicians in history, Gödel had an imme ...

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of logic, formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of for ...

. Later similar works are on ''Die Antinomien und ihre Behandlung'' (''

Antinomies Antinomy (Greek ἀντί, ''antí'', "against, in opposition to", and νόμος, ''nómos'', "law") refers to a real or apparent mutual incompatibility of two laws. It is a term used in logic and epistemology, particularly in the philosophy of I ...

and Their Treatment'', 1955) as well as ''Strukturtypen der Logik'' (''Types of Structures of Logic'', 1961).

Epistemology

One of the most influential books of Stegmüller is ''Metaphysik, Skepsis, Wissenschaft'' (1954). In this work, he discusses the epistemological foundations of

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

scepticism Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

, and

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

. He demonstrates that any search for epistemological fundamentals will necessarily lead to the problem of the

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

— which Stegmüller does not regard as solvable. He also refuses the potential solution that universal

skepticism Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

is self-refuting. Even if it were self-refuting, universal skepticism can be stated if the skeptic does not try to justify it. In consequence, explicit conditions (''Evidenzvoraussetzungen'') are necessary in

as well as in

. This means that neither can be fundamentally justified but do presuppose a decision. A further focus of Stegmüller's work was

phenomenalism In metaphysics, phenomenalism is the view that physical objects cannot justifiably be said to exist in themselves, but only as perceptual phenomena or sensory stimuli (e.g. redness, hardness, softness, sweetness, etc.) situated in time and in sp ...

. In "Der Phänomenalismus und seine Schwierigkeiten" (1958), he describes the extreme problems, which hinder a stringent implementation of the phenomenalism program.

Philosophy of science

Stegmüller is regarded as one of the leading philosophers of science of the second half of the 20th century. Deeply influenced by

Thomas S. Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term '' paradigm ...

and

Joseph D. Sneed Joseph D. Sneed (September 23, 1938 – February 7, 2020) was an American physicist, and philosopher at the Colorado School of Mines. Early life He was born in Durant, OK. His father, Dabney W. Sneed, was a civil servant with the Postal Service ...

, he and several co-workers expanded upon the ideas of Sneed in order to overcome the prevalent rationality crisis of the science that was often regarded as a consequence of Kuhn's works. Furthermore, this led him to a new answer to the problems of

s. This line of investigations is today known as the " structural theory of the empirical sciences".

Selected publications

*''Das Wahrheitsproblem und die Idee der Semantik'', 1957 *''Unvollständigkeit und Unentscheidbarkeit'', 1959 *''Einheit und Problematik der wissenschaftlichen Welterkenntnis'', 1967 *''Metaphysik-Skepsis-Wissenschaft'', 1969 *''Probleme und Resultate der Wissenschafttheorie und Analytischen Philosophie'' **Band I, ''Erklärung-Begründung-Kausalität'', 1983 **Band II, ''Theorie und Erfahrung'', 1974 ***1. Teilband: ''Theorie und Erfahrung'', 1974 ***2. Teilband: ''Theorienstrukturen und Theoriendynamik'', 1985 ***3. Teilband: ''Die Entwicklung des neuen Strukturalismus seit 1973'', 1986 **Band III, ''Strukturtypen der Logik'', 1984 **Band IV, ''Personelle und statistische Wahrscheinlichkeit'', 1973 ***1. Halbband: ''Personelle Wahrscheinlichkeit und rationale Entscheidung'', 1973 ***2. Halbband: ''Statistisches Schließen - Statistische Begründung - Statistische Analyse'', 1973 *''Das Problem der Induktion: Humes Herausforderung und moderne Antworten'', 1975 *''Rationale Rekonstruktion von Wissenschaft und ihrem Wandel'', 1979 *''The Structuralists View of Theories'', 1979 *''Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftstheorie'', 1980 *''Philosophy of economics'', 1982 *'' Kripkes Deutung der Spätphilosophie Wittgensteins. Kommentarversuch über einen versuchten Kommentar.'' 1986 *''Hauptströmungen der Gegenwartsphilosophie'', Bd. I-IV, Kröner, 7. Auflage (1989),