From Idéonisme to Dialectics: The Nomadic Concepts of Ferdinand Gonseth
From Idéonisme to Dialectics: The Nomadic Concepts of Ferdinand Gonseth with Ties van Gemert and Massimiliano Simons
26 November at 1:00 pm (online - ZOOM)
Abstract
Ferdinand Gonseth (1890–1975) is an almost forgotten figure of twentieth-century philosophy of science, yet his influence during his lifetime was considerable. We argue that both his impact and his subsequent obscurity stem from the distinctive form of philosophical agency he embodied. Like other “network philosophers” such as Otto Neurath, Gonseth shaped intellectual agendas less through canonical texts than through conceptual entrepreneurship and the creation of epistemic communities.
This talk pursues a dual aim: to reintroduce Gonseth’s philosophical project, and to use his career to illuminate a still under-theorized type of actor in the history of philosophy—network philosophers whose influence is exercised through actions, collaborations, and the strategic mobilization of concepts rather than through a consolidated oeuvre or a clearly defined system. Gonseth’s distinctive mode of influence operated through what we call nomadic concepts: notions such as idéonisme, “open philosophy,” and later “dialectics.” These functioned not merely as theoretical commitments but as tools for organizing networks, attracting interlocutors, and creating new institutional spaces. His goal was less to police boundaries than to assemble heterogeneous actors—scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians—under shared conceptual banners.
We develop this argument through three episodes in Gonseth’s career. First, his early participation in the 1932 International Congress of Mathematicians, where the outlines of idéonisme and his intellectual ambitions take shape. Second, the 1937 Descartes Congress, where his project of an “open philosophy” crystallized in alliances with Gaston Bachelard and Jean Cavaillès as part of a “counter-offensive” against the Vienna Circle. Third, the postwar period, including his debate with Alfred Tarski and the founding of Dialectica, in which he sought to mobilize institutions and practitioners around a renewed concept of “dialectics.” Through the case of Gonseth, we underscore the methodological importance of recovering network philosophers and recognizing the diverse forms of influence that remain largely invisible in standard historiography.
Hybrid option
Time: Nov 26, 2025 01:00 PM London
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Contact
Jan Vrhovski j.vrhovski@ed.ac.uk