The Philosophy of 'as If ' (International Library of Psychology, Philosophy, and Scienti)

2009 reprint of 1925 edition. This is an important book of one idea, but that idea is a very important one for the social scientist. According to the author "many thought processes and thought constructs appear to be consciously false assumptions, which either contradict reality or are even contradictory in themselves, but which are intentionally thus formed in order to overcome difficulties of thought by this artificial deviation, and reach the goal of thought by roundabout ways and by paths. These artificial thought constructs are called 'Scientific Fictions' and distinguished as conscious creations by their 'as if' character." Vaihinger's work is an important early contribution to the human tendency towards self-deception.

• As If: Idealization and Ideals
• The Structure of Magic, Vol. 1: A Book About Language and Therapy
• The Ashtray: (Or the Man Who Denied Reality)
• The Structure of Magic II: A Book About Communication and Change
• Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics
• Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology
• Things That Bother Me: Death, Freedom, the Self, Etc.
• The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity
• What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics
• When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought