William Agay-Beaujon

April 1st until June 31st, 2025

Affiliation: Université Montpellier Paul-Valéry, CRISES research team

Research for a study about:

Roots of the Enlightenment Ideas of the Vienna Circle within the Viennese “Late Enlightenment” Context

This research project is a part and a deepening of a philosophical and historical problem I have been exploring during the doctorate that I am currently doing on the reception of the Enlightenment in the Vienna Circle: the specific roots of the Enlightenment ideas in the Vienna Circle, within the Viennese “Spätaufklärung” (Late Enlightenment) framework (F. Stadler, 1981; 2015) in comparison with those of the historical French Enlightenment.
Late Enlightenment context is a socio-cultural liberal atmosphere of the inter-war period with roots going back to the late 19th Century. It took the shape of a vast network of groups and associations (the most important ones being Freidenkerbund, Ethischen Gemeinde, Monistenbund and Allgemeine Nährpflicht) which united in 1919 under the umbrella of the Freie Bund kultureller Vereine. Although diverse in opinion, they share a global orientation towards progress, cultural and social reform through reason and a scientific attitude which can be linked with 18th Century Enlightenment. The Vienna Circle emerged, were active in this context and were linked to it through various degrees: on the conceptual level and through personal and institutional connections such as the Verein Ernst Mach.
With this project, my aim is first to study further the meaning of the Enlightenment in E. Mach’s and J. Popper-Lynkeus’ writings. Then, identify key figures from this context to understand if and how they refer to the historical Enlightenment or its themes. And which meaning do they give to it in comparison with Mach, Popper-Lynkeus, Otto Neurath and the left wing of the Vienna Circle.

Lecture

Tracing the Polysemy of “Enlightenment” within the Viennese Late Enlightenment, around the Vienna Circle

Philosophy of Science Colloquium 

Date: May 08, 2025

Time: 4.45 pm -6.15 pm CET

Venue for all talks: Lecture Hall 3A, NIG Universitätsstraße 7, 3rd floor, 1010 Vienna,
NIG/ Neues Institutsgebäude, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna

Abstract:
Enlightenment features can be found in most groups associated with Late Enlightenment currents in the Viennese interwar period. Beyond each group’s particularities, a few key meanings can be identified: “popularization” through knowledge, a singular structure of ideas behind a visual metaphor, a self-positioning tool, and a critical-emancipatory embodied scientific attitude.
This talk will attempt to sketch these intertwined meanings, and then seek to understand their links with historical Enlightenment figures such as Voltaire and Rousseau. To do so, I will focus on the journals of the monists and freethinkers, writings of Josef Popper-Lynkeus, and the book series “Der Aufstieg” from Anzengruber-Verlag (Suschitzky brothers).