List of IllustrationsChronology of Philipp Frank's LifePhilipp Frank: A Crusader for Scientific PhilosophyPart IChapter 1. Introduction: Science, Facts, and Values1. Science and Poetry2. Charges against the Monopoly of Science3. Twentieth-Century Science and Philosophy4. The "Real World" Is Not Describable5. The Humanities Are Trailing behind the Natural Sciences6. The "Special Sciences" Don't Exhaust "Science"7. Semantic and Pragmatic Components of Science8. Philosophical Schools Woo the Support of Science9. Principles of Science and Human "Values"Chapter 2. The Longing for a Humanization of Science1. Dissatisfaction with Nineteenth-Century Science2. Emerson on the Changing Role of Science3. Lord Herbert Samuel for Modern Science4. Dehumanization of Science5. Soviet Philosophy and Modern Science6. The Birth of Modern Science Was the Birth of Dissatisfaction7. Bacon on the Copernican System8. How Science Has Been "Humanized"9. Analogies as Humanizing Elements10. "Humanization," "Metaphysics" and the "Inner Eye"11. Metaphysics, Common Sense, and the Inner Eye12. The Nature of Metaphysical Statements13. The Inner Eye and IntuitionChapter 3. Metaphysical Interpretations of Science1. The Founder of Pragmatism on Science and Philosophy2. Peirce's Conception of Philosophy3. Metaphysics Nearer to Common Sense than Science4. The Purpose of Metaphysical Interpretation5. Metaphysics as Science6. The Laws of Physics and Their Metaphysical Interpretation7. How Scientists Have Interpreted Their Own TheoriesChapter 4. The Sociology of Metaphysical Interpretations1. Can Science Be "Purged" of Philosophy?2. Science and Chance Philosophies3. The Attitudes of Scientists and Authorities4. The Battle of Worldviews5. Purging Physics and Metaphysics6. Science and Reality7. Max Planck and the Real World8. Meanings and Examples of "Real"9. Sociological Role of "Reality"10. "Reality" in Soviet PhilosophyChapter 5. Philosophy of Science and Political Ideology1. Sociology of Knowledge2. The General Sense of Ideology3. Mannheim, Ideology, and Sociology of Knowledge4. Forms of Social Influence5. Facts and Interpretation6. Sociology of Science7. Social Class and Social Situation8. The Solution to the PuzzleChapter 6. Sociology of Science and the Search for a Democratic Metaphysics1. Validation and Theory Building2. Science as a Compromise between Technology and Political Philosophy3. The Scientific Conscience4. Philosophical Interpretations and Democracy5. The Physical and the Socio-cosmic UniversePart IIChapter 7. Scholastic Philosophy and Thomism1. The Meanings of Rational and Intelligible2. The Role of Philosophical Schools3. Science and "Thomism"4. The Thomistic Theory of Matter5. The Social Significance of Thomistic Philosophy6. On Angels and Genuine Laws7. Thomism and Physical Laws8. Analogical and Scientific ThinkingChapter 8. The Physical Universe as a Symbol1. The Moral Universe2. Physical Science in the Bible3. The Physical Universe and Human Behavior4. Scholastic "Scientism" and Modern "Positivism"5. Shifting the Problem to Revelation6. Realism and Nominalism7. The Situation in the Nineteenth and Twentieth CenturiesChapter 9. Union, Divorce, and Reunion between Science and Philosophy1. Science and Philosophy in the British and Soviet Encyclopedias2. "Truce" through a Naturalization of Science3. Attempts at a Reunion by a Positive Philosophy4. The Role of "Sociology" in Positive Philosophy5. The "Truth" of General Principles in Positive Philosophy6. The Relative Truth of Theories7. Positive Philosophy and Marginal Metaphysics8. Science and Philosophy after the Reunion9. The Name "Philosophy" as a ChallengeChapter 10. Science, Democracy, and the New Wave of Positivism1. Science after the French Revolution2. Positivism in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century (Stallo)3. Positivism in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century (Mach)4. The Reception of Mach and Stallo?5. Conventionalism (Poincaré, Le Roy)6. Abel Rey and the Bankruptcy of Science7. Duhem's Accommodation of Positivism and MetaphysicsChapter 11. The Vienna Circle: Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, and Otto Neurath1. The Turning Point in Positivism2. Logical Positivism and the Theory of Correspondence3. Philosophy as Activity and the Unified Picture4. Cross-connections among the Sciences5. Changes in the Science of Meaning6. The Vienna Circle and the Pragmatics of Metaphysics7. Cognitive Significance and Scientific ValueChapter 12. Pragmatism1. Pragmatism (William James, Charles S. Peirce, and John Dewey)2. Peirce's Pragmatism and Positivism3. James's Pragmatism and Metaphysics4. Dewey and Political Interpretations of Science5. A New Development: Scientific Empiricism6. The Meaning and Significance of Bridgman's Operationalism7. Nagel's Contextualistic NaturalismChapter 13. Mechanistic and Dialectical Materialism1. Mechanistic Materialism2. La Mettrie's Materialism3. Purposiveness in Nature4. Materialism Refuted?5. Materialism versus Positivism6. Soviet Attacks against Positivism7. The Conversion of Mass and "Star-Spangled" OperationalismChapter 14. The Laws and Politics of Dialectical Materialism1. Dialectical versus Mechanistic Materialism2. Diamat and Philosophy3. Diamat and Realism4. The Dialectical Laws5. Quantitative and Qualitative Changes6. Social Change and Natural ScienceConclusion: Einstein's Philosophy of Science1. The Positivistic Basis2. The Metaphysical Basis3. The Analogical-Religious BasisNotesBibliographyIndex

"…The Humanistic Background of Science deserves to be read by everybody who is interested in contemporary philosophy of science and its history.” — H-Net Reviews (H-Sci-Med-Tech)"American pragmatism influenced Frank, and his treatise offers a fascinating historical window on the intellectual currents of mid-century American philosophy. Thanks to the archival research of these editors, the work is now available and likely to be of particular interest to historians of science and philosophy. Because Frank's manuscript lay unpublished and never became an influential text, its greatest appeal will be to readers with strong historical interests." — CHOICE