Gesprche, Vortrge, Sancen: Kurt Gdels Wiener Protokolle 1937/38

This book provides detailed transcriptions of two notebooks written by Kurt Gdel in Vienna in 1937/38 in the nearly forgotten Gabelsberger shorthand system. The first of these notebooks, simply entitled as the Protokoll-book, contains notes on conversations Gdel had with people like Rudolf Carnap, Rose Rand, Friedrich Waismann, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, and many others who wereat least to some degreeconnected to the Vienna Circle. It also covers detailed descriptions of the regular meetings organized by Edgar Zilsel. The second notebook includes notes on a series of lectures given at the Vienna Psychological Institute, which was led by Karl Bhler at the time. Both notebooks are part of Gdels huge Nachlass kept at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, which consists of literally thousands of stenographic pages covering logic and the foundations of mathematics, philosophy, physics, and theology. The now transcribed and commented notes reveal a very personal side of Gdel which hasto a large extentbeen unknown to a mainly scientific-oriented audience. The book is of interest to people wanting to learn about Gdels personal background in Vienna in the late 1930s as well as his keen interest in philosophy, psychology, and parapsychology.