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Birth of a Simple Hungarian
Imre Lipsitz was born in Debrecen, Hungary, in 1922 to Jacob Lipsitz and Margit Herczfeld, both of Jewish decent. While young, Lipsitz's parents split and he was raised primarily by his maternal grandmother. -
Formed Maxist Resistance Group
Lakatos and his later wife Eva Revesz formed a Marxist resistance group after the German invasion of Hungary. During the movement, Lakatos and the group convinced 19-year-old Eva Izsak, a Anti-Facism Jewish activist to commit suicide to distract authorities from the workings and location of the main group. -
Earned Degree in Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy
Lipsitz began school at Debrecen University in 1940 and graduated with a degrees in Physics, Mathematics, and Philosophy in 1944. While in school, Lipsitz began attending secret communist meetings and, prior to graduating, hosted his own unlawful group for studies. -
Flees Hometown of Debrecen
While Lipsitz's mother and grandmother were captured and forced into the Debrecen ghetto and later killed in Auschwitz, Lipsitz managed to escape the city and travel to Nagvaryad utilizing false papers with the name Molnar. -
Birth of a Communist
After a Soviet victory towards the end of 1944, Molnar again changed his name, this time to Lakatos, and returned to Debrecen. He became an open Communist and worked towards dismissing all reactionary professors and students from the local university. -
Hungarian Ministry of Education
After moving to Budapest in 1946 as a graduate student at Budapest University, Lakatos began working for the Hungarian Ministry of Education where he evaluated current and potential educators and created a database of those whom he felt were untrustworthy or against the Communist regime he served. -
Obtains PhD
While at Debrecen University, Lakatos earned his doctorate for his thesis, "On the Sociology of Concept Formation in the Natural Sciences". Shortly after graduation, Lakatos received a scholarship to continue is studies and research in Russia. -
Condemnation to Recsk
Lakatos was arrested for revisionism after returning from Moscow. After being tortured by secret police, he was sent to the gulag/prison camp at Recsk. -
Joined Petofi Circle
After his incarceration, Lakatos remained loyal to the Stalinistic views, but in 1965, he joined the Petofi Circle, a revisionist group focused on giving younger intellectuals of the Community party a forum to debate. Shortly after the Hungarian Revolution was squashed by the Soviet Union, Lakatos, his wife and her parents escaped the country into Austria. -
"Essays in the Logic of Mathematical Discovery"
After fleeing Hungary, Lakatos went onto to complete his PhD in 1959 under the guidance of R.B. Braithwaite. It was at this time that he wrote his "Essays in the Logic of Mathematical Discovery" which was later published in 1961 by the University of Cambridge. Lakatos, I. (1961). Essays in the logic of mathematical discovery. University of Cambridge. -
Popper's Influence
In 1960, Lakatos was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Karl Popper's department at the London School of Economics and was a Professor of Logic by 1969. Popper subsequently inspired Lakatos for future writings during the 60s. -
"Infinite Regress and Foundations of Mathematics"
This paper, written in 1962, was Lakatos' critique of logicism and formalism.
Lakatos, I. (1962). Infinite regress and foundations of mathematics. Cambridge University Press. -
"Proofs and Refutations" Written
Written with a title alluding to Karl Popper's similar title, Lakatos' "Proofs and Refutations" was a collection of articles based on his thesis and transcribed in a multiple sided dialogue arguing the development of mathematics is "much more like the development of science as portrayed by Popper". The articles were later published in 1976 after Lakatos' death. Lakatos, I. (1976). Proofs and refutations: the logic of math. discovery. Ed. by John Worrall and Elie Zahar. Cambridge Univ. Pr. -
"A Renaissance of Empiricism in the Recent Philosophy of Mathematics?"
A follow-up to his "Infinite Regress and the Foundations of Mathematics", Lakatos' 1967 paper "A Renaissance of Empiricism in the Recent Philosophy of Mathematics" continues to target what he dubs Empiricism and both hails and condemns it. Lakatos, I. (1967). A Renaissance of Empiricism in the Recent Philosophy of Mathematics? Cambridge University Press. -
"Changes in the Problem of Inductive Logic"
As part of 3 papers (including previously mentioned Renaissance) Lakatos contributed to at a famous International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science in London in 1965, this paper analyzed the differences between Popper and Carnap about the relationship between theory and evidence in the field of science in an attempt to prove Popper's argument was stronger. Lakatos, I., et all (1968). Changes in the Problem of Inductive Logic London, 1965, Volume 2. North-Holland Publishing Company. -
"Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes"
Also part of the "Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge," Lakatos' ""Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes" was seen as a means to bridge the gap between Kuhn and Popper by proposing a view where the socio-psychological tools pushed by Kuhn were swapped with methodological replacements. Lakatos, I.(1970). "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes". North-Holland Publishing Company. -
"The History of Science and Its Rational Reconstructions"
In this book, Lakatos compares different versions of scientific methods and how they properly account for the actual history of scientific developments and changes. Lakatos, I. (1971). History of Science and Its Rational Reconstructions. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, 1970, 91-136. -
"Popper on Demarcation and Induction"
In his own words, Lakatos summarized this paper as his "position on what Popper himself frequently referred to as the two main problems of his now classical Logik der Forschung: the problem of demarcation and the problem of induction." Lakatos, I. (1978). Popper on demarcation and induction, The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes: Philosophical Papers (pp. 139-167). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr. -
Death of a Scholar
Imre Lakatos died of a heart attack at the age of 51 in London, England. -
"Why Did Copernicus’s Research Programme Supersede Ptolemy’s?"
In the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Neil Thomason summarized this paper was Lakatos and Zahar's argument that "on Zahar's criterion for 'novel fact', Copernican theory was objectively scientifically superior to Ptolemaic theory." Lakatos, I and Zahar, E (1976). Why did Copernicus's research programme supersede Ptolemy's?. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Pr. -
"Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes"
Also known as MSRP and published in 1978 after his death, Lakatos' additional major contribution to philosophy was his "Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes" which served as a "radical revision of Popper's Demarcation Criterion." While Lakatos agreed to some points to Popper's falsifiability theory, he felt the criterion was far too restrictive. Lakatos, I. (1978). The methodology of scientific research programmes. Cambridge University Press. -
"For and Against Method"
Before his death, Lakatos and Feyerabend planned to collaborate on a work where the two debated over a rationalist view of science. Lakatos died before the piece was complete, but the correspondence between the two can be found in "For and Against Method". Lakatos, I., Feyerabend, P., & Motterlini, M. (1999). For and Against Method: Including Lakatos's Lectures on Scientific Method and the Lakatos-Feyerabend Correspondence. University of Chicago Press.
