Carl Gustav Hempel
contemporaryLogical Empiricism1905 – 1997
Carl Gustav Hempel (1905–1997) was a German-American philosopher of science and a central figure in logical empiricism. Trained in Berlin and associated with the Vienna Circle, he made foundational contributions to the theory of scientific explanation, confirmation, and the logic of empirical significance. His work shaped analytic philosophy of science throughout the twentieth century.
Notable Achievements
1
Developed the deductive-nomological (covering-law) model of scientific explanation
2
Formulated the raven paradox, a landmark problem in confirmation theory
3
Critiqued the verificationist criterion of cognitive significance from within empiricism
4
Introduced the inductive-statistical model of probabilistic explanation
5
Authored Aspects of Scientific Explanation (1965), a defining text in philosophy of science