Theory of Science - by Bernard Bolzano (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Theory of Science: Attempt at a Detailed and in the main Novel Exposition of Logic by Bernard Bolzano and edited by Rolf George introduces Bolzano's life, aims, and the architecture of his Wissenschaftslehre ("Theory of Science"). Born in Prague (1781), educated in the Josephinian Enlightenment, Bolzano combined devout faith with utilitarian ethics ("advance the common good") and a rigorous, anti-Kantian logical program. Dismissed in 1819 for heterodoxy amid post-Napoleonic crackdowns, he spent the 1820s-30s composing the Wissenschaftslehre (1837) and advancing mathematics (early notions of limits, non-differentiable continuous functions, and insights on infinite sets later echoed by Cantor). The introduction traces his influence on Brentano and Husserl, notes the late revival of his legacy, and situates the planned critical edition.

Substantively, Bolzano reframes logic as a Wissenschaftslehre: (1) Theory of Fundamentals (there are truths-in-themselves and we can know some); (2) Theory of Elements (ideas/propositions-in-themselves, without psychological or linguistic dependence; "logical Platonism" tempered by denying existential commitment and favoring a pragmatic "there are"); (3) Heuretics (methods for discovery); and (4) Theory of Presentation (how to structure sciences). He offers an early formal account of logical consequence (deducibility via truth-preserving substitutions), distinguishes it from ground-consequence (an asymmetric explanatory relation paralleling causation), and treats probability vs. confidence as objective vs. subjective. His single base form "A has b" and lack of explicit variables limit later calculational development, yet his semantic stance (objective propositions, anti-psychologism) anticipates twentieth-century logic and phenomenology. The editor's introduction maps these moves, clarifies terminology, and highlights where Bolzano's program both prefigures and diverges from Tarskian consequence and modern formalism.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.