PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Grunbaum's three chief fields of research were space-time philosophy, the methodological credentials of psychoanalysis, and reasons given in favor of the existence of God. Grunbaum defended the so-called conventionality thesis of physical geometry. He partially followed Hans Reichenbach in this respect but developed a new ontological argument for the conventionality claim in addition. In addressing the physical basis of the direction of time, Grunbaum advocated that there is a physical basis for the distinction between the past and the future (or the anisotropy of time), but no such basis for the idea of a 'present' moving through time. His main claim in scrutinizing Freud's theory methodologically was that supporting the causal claims Freud made would have required data that go beyond the clinical setting. Finally, Grunbaum worked on the philosophy of religion and set out to undermine arguments for the existence of God.