Modernism, modernity, and politics in the general history of science: Implications of Herbert Mehrtens' work, from "Vienna 1900" to the Nazi era, and beyond.

Herbert Mehrtens' work and the implications of the historical ideas he advanced went beyond the history of any single discipline. The article therefore addresses three broad issues: (1) Mehrtens' reconceptualization of mathematical modernism, in his field-changing book (1990) and other works, as an epistemic and cultural phenomenon in a way that could potentially reach across and also beyond the sciences and also link scientific and cultural modernisms; (2) the extension of his work to the history of modernity itself via the concept of "technocratic modernism"; (3) his seminal contributions to the historiography of the sciences and technology during the National Socialist period, focusing on his critique of claims that mathematics, the natural sciences and technology were morally or politically "neutral" during or after the Nazi era, and on his counter-claim that mathematicians and other scientists had in fact mobilized themselves and their knowledge in support of Nazism's central political projects. Taken as a guide for understanding science-politics relations in general, Mehrtens' work was and remains a counterweight to the political abstinence adopted by many who have followed the "cultural turn" in history of science and technology.

Psychology and the fall of Communism: The special case of (East) Germany.

The fall of Communism is now universally agreed to be what the philosopher Hegel called a world historical event-one that few predicted but nearly everyone saw as inevitable after it happened. In the aftermath many lives-and worldviews-changed, not only, but also in the human sciences. These remarks attempt to address in a preliminary way both the impact of the fall of Communism on psychology in former East Germany (including changes in personnel and approach) and the ways in which these sciences were employed as resources for reflection on the Communist past as well as the transition to new social and political regimes.

Review of Max Wertheimer, Productive thinking.

Reviews the book, by Viktor Sarris (2020). This volume contains a reproduction of the original edition of Max Wertheimer's study of productive thinking, published posthumously in 1945, with a brief preface and a more extensive introduction by Viktor Sarris, Professor Emeritus of General Psychology and former holder of the Max Wertheimer Chair at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. In his introduction, Sarris briefly summarizes the 1920 study, and then provides a chapter by chapter account of the 1945 volume's content, summarizing the results in a section called "Wertheimer's Credo.

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History of Science and Philosophy of Science. Introductory Remarks. This article introduces two special issues of the journal History of Science Reports (Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte) with contributions on the relationships of history and philosophy of science since the seventeenth century.

[Science and music. Introductory remarks].

The article presents a brief introduction to "Science and Music", theme of the 44th symposium of the "Society for History of Sciences" held in Munich in May 2007. The text begins with a brief reference to the numerous biographical connections between the two fields, but focuses primarily on topics that reveal music and the sciences to be results of shared cultural practices. Examples include: (1) shared objects in the material sense, meaning the use of particular instruments in both music and the sciences; (2) shared semantics, metaphors, and concepts, for example the use of the concepts like clang or tone color in acoustics and the psychology of audition, or talk of 'mood' and 'harmony' in both music and in literature; (3) direct interactions between mathematics, physics and music, for example in the electronic music of the twentieth century.

Psychological thought and practice in German-speaking Europe, 1900-1960.

Psychology has become a protean "multi-discipline" that occupies a peculiar place among the sciences, suspended between methodological orientations derived from the physical and biological sciences and a subject matter extending into the social and human sciences. At the same time, modern societies have become permeated--some would say saturated--with psychological thinking and practices, much of which relates tenuously at best to what goes on in the discipline. In these remarks, both of these developments are placed in historical context, focusing particularly on Germany and Austria.

Roles of instruments in psychological research.

What roles have instruments played in psychology and related disciplines? How have instruments affected the dynamics of psychological research, with what possibilities and limits? What is the psychological instrument? This article provides a conceptual foundation for specific case studies concerning such questions. The discussion begins by challenging widely accepted assumptions about the subject and analyzing the general relations between scientific experimentation and the uses of instruments in psychology. Building on this analysis, a deliberately inclusive definition of what constitutes a psychological instrument is proposed.