Talk:Hans Vaihinger

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I can't believe this guy is not better known today than he is. He completely antiicipates Rorty and the other postmodern pragmatists and constructivists. Does anyone out there know of others who have cited or been influenced by Vaihinger's writings other than the oft-cited-in-this-context Adler? (anon, 8 June 2005)

&mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 152.163.100.12 (talk • contribs) 4 Sept 2005.
 * 1) His Philosophy of As-If is practically impossible to obtain. Maybe Project Gutenberg will someday scan it.
 * 2) His notion of "useful fictions" is so radical and deep that it cannot be understood by most people.
 * 3) The only thing that keeps his name alive today is his connection to Nietzsche's perspectivism. When the fascination with Nietzsche passes, Vaihinger may become totally unknown.

Can anybody find out, in how far the Nazi ideology in GERM before 1945 is based on Vaihingers ideology (I mean: In (modern) physics it is more about predicting the behaviour of an experiment than fantasising about the existence or character of light or so (e. g. in Double-slit_experiment nobody would say "light is a wave" today - we would say "the resulting pattern can be predicted by geometrical considerations based on waves in a lake"; here we see, why Physics needs (good) experiments, and why physicists-jokes often make fun of this approach (e. g. when a physicist wants to validate "the odd numbers are the prime numbers" he says "3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is observational error, 11 is prime, lets try a bigger number: 101 is prime -> the theory is good"))...)? --213.54.76.45 05:16, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

The previous comment about how physicists (and I'd add cautious natural scientists generally) couch their conclusions at a safe "we're-not-saying-this-is-how-it-is-just-how-we-find-it-to-be" distance (in a kind of irrealis or as-if space) is well taken, but I just don't see a connection to "Nazi ideology" -- in germ or otherwise. Also, what exactly IS his connection Nietzsche's perspectivism? (I forget -- does Vaihinger cite Nietzsche as an influence?) —This unsigned comment was added by 24.75.1.126 (talk • contribs) 24 March 2006.

There is indeed a link between Vaihinger and nazism, although very tenuous and indirect: although Vaihinger arose from a neo-kantian background rather than a Jamesian / radical pluralist pragmatist background, he did receive much attention within the circles of avant-garde and bergsonian lebensphilosophie which would have a significant influence on the rise of (Italian) fascism. I'll just drop a few names here so that you can do your own research (most of the books are hard to come by and my Italian is weak...) Prezzolini, Adriano Tilgher, Louis Rougier, Papini... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:E35:2EB5:DEE0:658B:B071:581B:B404 (talk) 08:27, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Incoherent passage cut
"2005 starts the ALS-OB-Institude to work in Halle . First director was Gabriel Machemer"

If this means something intelligible and relevant, please rewrite it in decent English and place it appropriately in the article. If you can't explain in English, feel free to explain here on the talk page in Spanish, Portuguese, or German (or almost anything else within reason) and I'm sure someone will follow through. - Jmabel | Talk 01:36, 20 March 2007 (UTC)


 * From the German Wikipedia:
 * "Das Als-Ob Institut wurde am 29. Oktober 2005 von Künstlern, Geisteswissenschaftlern und Studenten gegründet. Sein Sitz ist in Halle (Saale). Hauptuntersuchungsfeld ist die Ästhetik des Als Ob. In der Ästhetik des Als Ob wird all jenes spontane Auftreten von Kunst, das wir als Provisorien benennen, dokumentiert und ausgewertet. Zum Beispiel Improvisationstheater, Musikimprovisationen, Umbauobjekte in der bildenden Kunst, bei denen aus etwas etwas anderes wurde. Die Schönheit von alternativen Möglichkeiten zu den Trivialmöglichkeiten spielen eine Rolle. Das "SO MACHT MAN ES EBEN" steht dem "als ob" Prinzip: "WIE MAN ES NICHT MACHT" entgegen. Trotz bewußtem Negieren der Trivialhandlung erreicht man mit dem kreativen Potential des Als Ob richtiges. "Der Umweg ist mehr als der Weg, wenn der Weg das Ziel ist." [Zit: Machemer Gabriel in Hindernisse./Archiv des Als Ob Instituts] Die Resultate des falschen Verwendens von Gegenständen besitzen eine vorübergehende Ästhetik des Als Ob. Beispiel hierfür ist der Pavian von Picasso, dessen Kopf ein Spielzeugauto ist. Ein weiteres Beispiel für die Ästhetik des Als Ob sind die Attrapen von U-Bahneingängen, initiiert von Martin Kippenberger"


 * Translation anyone? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Skomorokh (talk • contribs) 00:06, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Here's my feeble attempt:

''The As If Institute was created on 29 October 2005 by artists, cognitive scientists and students. It is located in Halle (Saale). The main field of investigation is the aesthetic of As If. In the aesthetic of As If, all spontaneous appearances of art, which we call provisional or temporary, are documented and evaluated. Examples are improvisational theatre, music improvisations, and the reconstruction of objects in plastic art (architecture, sculpture), with which one thing is made from something else. Beauty, from alternative to trivial possibilities, plays a role. "IT IS DONE PRECISELY THIS WAY" opposes the As If principle: "HOW IT ISN'T DONE". Despite the conscious denial of trivia, the creative potential of As If is correctly attained. "The by–way is more than the way, if the way is the goal." [Citation: Gabriel Machemer on obstacles / Archive of the As If Institute] The results of the false uses of articles possess a transitory aesthetic of As If. An example of this is Picasso's baboon, whose head is a toy car. Further examples of the aesthetic of As If are the mock subway entrances that were beginning to be built by Martin Kippenberger [shortly before his untimely death].''

Many German sentences did not make sense to me but I tried to translate them literally. This "As If Institute" seems, to me, to have nothing to do with Vaihinger's profound philosophy of useful fiction.Lestrade (talk) 18:33, 24 February 2009 (UTC)Lestrade

Kant-Gesellschaft
Vaihinger is told to be the founder of the Kant-Gesellschaft which susquently was merged or icorporated into the Ernst Mach Verein and then in the Vienna Circle (a possibile source: ). Vaihinger is also told to be the founder of the academic journal Kant-Studien in 1896 (kant.uni-mainz.de).

There are available neither primary sources nor archivistic ones, and also the exact foubndation data isn't clearly explicited. Untill better sources will be made available, such a historical information could be kept in this discussion page.