This book is made up of three parts. Part 1, Neurath's intellectual biography, is primarily from Lola Fleck's Graz dissertation, with additions by the other authors to fill in missing links with the account of parts 2 and 3. The translation from the German of Fleck's original work is by Martin Anduschuss with revisions by Nancy Cartwright and Thomas Uebel. Part 2 of the book was written by Thomas Uebel and part 3 by Nancy Cartwright and Jordi Cat. Although the book has four different authors, listed alphabetically on the title page, there is a common point of view among them. The work on the book has been a close collaborative effort among Cartwright, Cat and Uebel, and these three authors would like especially to thank Lola Fleck for her generosity in allowing additions and revisions to integrate her dissertation more fully with the remainder of the text. Existing translations have been used where available; translations of previously untranslated materials are by the present authors. Timothy Childers has served as editorial assistant throughout. Figure 1.1 was recreated by George Zouros. Original drawings are by Rachel Hacking. The index was contributed by Mauricio Suárez.

Neurath's own distinctive idea of Ballungen – congested concepts with fuzzy edges – plays a special role in our philosophic discussions. It enters the work of parts 2 and 3 by independent routes. In 1990 Nancy Cartwright went to talk to C.G. Hempel about Neurath. Hempel reported that there were two themes that he felt were really dear to Neurath and central to his thought: the moneyless economy and Ballungen.