1896 – 1959
Friedrich Waismann (1896–1959) was an Austrian-British philosopher associated with the Vienna Circle whose work bridged logical empiricism and ordinary language philosophy. He is best known for his concept of 'open texture' (Porosität der Begriffe), which holds that empirical concepts are inherently incomplete and cannot be exhaustively defined. His close collaboration with Wittgenstein and subsequent career at Oxford made him a significant transitional figure between Viennese logical empiricism and British analytic philosophy.
Developed the concept of 'open texture' — the thesis that empirical concepts are irreducibly incomplete and admit of undecidable cases
Member of the Vienna Circle and primary interlocutor and documenter of Wittgenstein's evolving thought in 'Ludwig Wittgenstein und der Wiener Kreis'
Introduced the notion of 'language strata' to analyze irreducible levels of linguistic meaning and verification
Authored 'The Principles of Linguistic Philosophy', a systematic treatment of language and meaning
Contributed to philosophy of mathematics with 'Introduction to Mathematical Thinking'