Adolf von Harnacks „letzte“ Arbeit „Stufen wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis“ (1920) und die darauffolgende Diskussion über die „Wandlung in der Schätzung der Wissenschaft

In 1930 the “Nestor of German science” and president of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Society, the church historian Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930), published an article entitled “Steps of scientific understanding” in the popular German culture and science journal “Die Koralle”. The editors asked eleven prominent scientists and experts to discuss the article with respect to alleged “Changes in the Estimation of Science”. One most critical reply was apparently not solicited and not published. It was written by the prominent applied mathematician and empiricist philosopher Richard von Mises (1883–1953). The article publishes the contributions by Harnack and von Mises, gives an overview of the main points of the discussion in “Die Koralle”, and argues why von Mises’ reply remained unpublished at that time. An important background fact is that – unknown to the participants in the discussion – Harnack’s short article turned out to be an abstract of an earlier article from 1913, which restricted its value for a discussion in 1930.