Otto Neurath: Language, Sciencie and Values. The Incidence of the Political

Abstract

Neurath’s project centrally included the thesis of unified science because of its functionality for political action with the purpose of attaining a better human society. This was so, because unified science was a fundamental instrument for the unity of action which, in turn, required of a fluid communication. Finally that sort of communication depended upon a certain unity of the language of science. The outcome was Neurath’s radical anti-foundational conventionalism according to which scientists should make decisions for adopting goals, instruments for achieving them, and also for accepting/rejecting hypotheses and encyclopedias. Those decisions would necessarily involve “auxiliary motives” like utility, human happiness, improving the situation of the proletariat, among others. Therefore, there is a strong interrelation between science and politics, because the former is a fundamental instrument for successfully attaining political goals, and mainly because political motives may play a crucial role in decisions for scientific acceptance.