When my father passed away in 2001, I found among his possessions what appears to be an unpublished manuscript by Hans Reichenbach. The manuscript is titled A Theory of the Origin and Development of Life. Googling this produces absolutely nothing. Here is an image of the manuscript’s flyleaf. The copyright is dated sixteen years after Reichenbach’s death, and the copyright holder is someone named Fil Cayetan. Googling this name produces one hit, which includes a reference to this manuscript. Other than that, I can find no explanation of who Fil Cayetan is or what this manuscript is. The only indication I have that Reichenbach is the actual author is the fact that on the title page, under Cayetan’s name, my father had penciled the words ‘Hans Reichenbach’ in parentheses. What, if anything, should I do with this manuscript? If it really is an unpublished work by Reichenbach, there must be someone in the academic world who would be interested in seeing it, but how would I bring it to their attention? Or does the fact that it was copyrighted but never distributed indicate that there is essentially no interest in this work? Should I just stick it back on the bookshelf and forget about it?
Don’t you think it’s a rather large leap to think that Hans Reichenbach is the actual author based on only that notation?
The University of Pittsburgh may be the repository of his works. http://www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/special/asp/reichen.html
Don’t ask me why the U of Pitt.
You should contact them and ask if they know about this.
Not that they are the official best repository of his papers. I was just trying to suggest somewhere that might have better knowledge.
No, because I have a vague memory of my father talking about it once or twice. It’s just that it was so long ago I can barely remember the conversation. Also, read the flyleaf. It says to contact Hans Reichenbach for additional copies if unable to reach Cayetan. Granted, it’s very strange. I’m at a complete loss to explain it.
Logical positivists liked it there. Carl Hempel, in his senescence, took a position at Pitt. For a while, it was probably the best philosophy department in the US.
It appears to be a genuine work by Reichenbach. I found the following passage in a lengthy discussion by the author concerning why he chose not to publish the manuscript (all misspellings and typographical errors are left intact):
This appears to reflect an actual event:
I have e-mailed the correspondence librarian at the University of Pittsburgh, we’ll see what happens.