Rose Rand

Infobox_Philosopher
region = Western Philosophy
era = Vienna Circle
color = #B0C4DE

image_caption =

name = Rose Rand
birth = 14 June 1903
death = 28 July 1980
school_tradition = Logical Positivism, Analytic philosophy
main_interests = Logic Vienna Circle Epistemology Philosophy of Science Philosophy of Mind
influences = Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Popper, Tadeusz Kotarbiński
influenced =

Rose Rand (June 14, 1903 – July 28, 1980) A logician and a Philosopher. A member of the Vienna Circle.

Rand was born in Lemberg (today, Lviv, Ukraine). After her family moved to Austria she studied at the Polish Gymnasium in Vienna. In 1924 she enrolled in Vienna University, her teachers included Heinrich Gomperz, Moritz Schlick, and Rudolf Carnap. She graduated with hwe first degree in 1928.

As a PhD candidate, Rand participated regularly in the Vienna Circle discussions, and kept records of these discussions. Between 1930 and 1937 she worked, and took part in research, at the Psychiatric-neurological Clinic of the Vienna university. [Hamacher-Hermes, Adelheid. 2003. 'Rose Rand: a Woman in Logic'. In Stadler, Friedrich, (ed.)"The Vienna Circle and Logical Empiricism: Re-Evaluation and Future Perspectives". Springer. ISBN 0306482142, pp. 375-6] She also earned money by tutoring students and giving adult educations classes.

In 1938 she received her PhD for "T. Kotarbiński's Philosophy”.

Rand, unemployed and of Jewish descent, suffered great difficulties in pre-World War II Vienna. In 1939 she finally emigrated to London as a Jew without nationality.

After a period of time in England in which she worked as a nurse she was admitted as "distinguished foreigner” at the faculty of Moral Science at Cambridge University. In 1943 she lost her privileges and had to work at a metal factory, and teach night classes in German and psychology in the Luton Technical College and Tottenham Technical College. [Rose Rand's Curriculum Vitae, 1 March 1949, cited in Adelheid Hamacher-Hermes. 2003. 'Rose Rand: a Woman in Logic'. In Stadler, Friedrich, (ed.)"The Vienna Circle and Logical Empiricism: Re-Evaluation and Future Perspectives". Springer. ISBN 0306482142, p. 377] Karl Popper helped her to get a small research grant, so she could attend Oxford University as a "recognized student." Between 1943-50 she also worked in practical engineering.

Rand moved to the United States in 1954. Between 1955 and 1959 she taught elementary math, ancient philosophy and logic, and was a research associate, in the University of Chicago, Indiana University Northwest in Gary and Notre Dame University.

In 1959 she returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts and after that to Princeton, New Jersey. In the following years she earned her living from grants and fellowships which were given to her mostly for her work on translations.

Rand’s records were purchased by the University of Pittsburgh. They contain, among other things, her research, the records of the discussions in the Vienna Circle protocols and over 1,600 letters to Otto Neurath, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alfred Tarski and others.

References

Bibliography

* [http://www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/special/asp/rand.html Rose Rand Collection]
*Stadler, Friedrich. Translators: C. Nielsen, J. Golb, S. Schmidt and T. Ernst. 2001. "The Vienna Circle - Studies in the Origins, Development, and Influence of Logical Empiricism". Springer. ISBN-10: 3211832432, ISBN-13: 978-3211832431.
*Hamacher-Hermes, Adelheid. 2003. 'Rose Rand: a Woman in Logic'. In Stadler, Friedrich, (ed.)"The Vienna Circle and Logical Empiricism: Re-Evaluation and Future Perspectives". Springer. ISBN 0306482142