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person1930s-1997

Carl Hempel

Disciplines:
logic
philosophy of science

Summary

German-American philosopher of science who developed the deductive-nomological (covering-law) model of scientific explanation and posed the raven paradox for the confirmation theory of science.

Core Contribution

Covering-law model (D-N): a scientific explanation is a deductive argument whose premises include at least one law and whose conclusion is the event to be explained. Raven paradox: 'All ravens are black' is equivalent to 'All non-black things are non-ravens' — so observing a green apple confirms 'All ravens are black.' Contributed to functional explanation and the philosophy of psychology.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • The raven paradox is a genuine puzzle, not a trick — it reveals that inductive confirmation cannot be formalized by simple logic; the intuitive asymmetry between ravens and non-black things must be explained by background knowledge.
  • The D-N model requires laws: but what is a law? This question — sparked by Hempel — generated decades of philosophical work on the nature of laws of nature (Tooley, Lewis, Armstrong).

Notable Works & Achievements

Aspects of Scientific Explanation

Fundamentals of Concept Formation in Empirical Science

Historical Influences

Rudolf Carnap Hans Reichenbach

Intellectual Lineage

Vienna Circle Logical Empiricism

Contemporaries & Peers

Rudolf Carnap Karl Popper

Minds Influenced

Philosophy of Science

Intellectual Posterity

D-N ModelRaven ParadoxConfirmation Theory

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