Rudolf Carnap

Overview:

The life and works of Rudolf Carnap.

The Life of Rudolf Carnap Rudolf Carnap was a leading member of the Vienna Circle and proponent of the philosophy of Logical Positivism. In 1936 he emigrated to the USA and continued to develop his brand of formally oriented philosophical analysis.

The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap A survey of the philosophy of Rudolf Carnap using his own breakdown into ten problem areas.

Metaphysical and Logical Positivism Compared A comparison of logical positivism primarily as conceived by Carnap with the philosophical position which I have called metaphysical positivism.

Carnap's Syntactical Method A synopsis of lectures given by Carnap in London, 1935, on his Method of Logical Syntax.

Carnap Omniography Some bibliographic information and links to bookshops and other online resources about Carnap.

The Life of Rudolf Carnap:

Rudolf Carnap was a leading member of the Vienna Circle and proponent of the philosophy of Logical Positivism. In 1936 he emigrated to the USA and continued to develop his brand of formally oriented philosophical analysis.

Student Years Carnap heads for the Philosophy of Science under the influence of Kant and Frege.

Germany (1919-1926) After a dissertation on the Philosophical Foundations of Geometry Carnap begins his work on what was later to be called logical positivism.

Vienna (1926-1935) In 1926 Carnap took a position at the University of Vienna, permitting him to become a member of the Vienna Circle.

USA (1936-1970) In 1936 Carnap goes to Chicago and spends the rest of his life in the USA, becoming a citizen in 1941.

The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap:

A survey of the philosophy of Rudolf Carnap using his own breakdown into ten problem areas.

Pseudo Problems in Philosophy The rejection of metaphysics using the analytic/synthetic dichotomy and the verification principle.

The Foundations of Mathematics Logicism with added extracts of Formalism.

Physicalism and the Unity of Science Different branches of science are fundamentally parts of a single unified science of physical things (i.e. are reducible to physics).

The Logical Syntax of Language A purely analytic theory of the structure of linguistic expressions.

Liberalisation of Empiricism The abandonment of foundationalism and of the principle of verifiability.

Semantics Carnap broadens his metalingual theory to encompass semantics, with particular concern for the semantic definition of logical truth and the distinction between logical and factual truth.

Language Planning The principle of tolerance leads to linguistic pluralism and to the need for planning how a number of languages can be fitted together yielding a system fulfilling given desiderata.

Probability and Inductive Logic In order to support his analytic inductive logic Carnap developed a notion of logical or inductive probability.

The Theoretical Language Carnap considered the correct formal treatment scientific language using the concepts of theoretical physics and the relation of this language to observation language.

Values and Practical Decisions Notwithstanding his positivist view that value statements lack cognitive content Carnap thought values important. He sought the improvement of the human condition, and advocated socialism and world goverment as ways of eliminating war and poverty.

created 1998/12/11 modified 2007/06/30