Rudolf Carnap
Encyclopedia
Rudolf Carnap was an influential German
-born philosopher
who was active in Europe
before 1935 and in the United States
thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle
and an advocate of logical positivism
.
Gymnasium
. From 1910 to 1914, he attended the University of Jena, intending to write a thesis in physics. But he also studied carefully Kant
's Critique of Pure Reason
during a course taught by Bruno Bauch
, and was one of very few students to attend Gottlob Frege's courses in mathematical logic
. After serving in the German army during World War I
for three years, he was given permission to study physics at the University of Berlin, 1917–18, where Albert Einstein
was a newly appointed professor. Carnap then attended the University of Jena, where he wrote a thesis defining an axiomatic theory
of space
and time
. The physics department said it was too philosophical, and Bruno Bauch
of the philosophy department said it was pure physics. Carnap then wrote another thesis, with Bauch's supervision, on the theory of space in a more orthodox Kant
ian style, and published as Der Raum (Space) in a supplemental issue of Kant-Studien (1922). In it he makes the clear distinction between formal, physical and perceptual (e.g., visual
) spaces.
In 1921, Carnap wrote a letter to Bertrand Russell
, who responded by copying by hand long passages from his Principia Mathematica
for Carnap's benefit, as neither Carnap nor Freiburg could afford a copy of this epochal work. In 1924 and 1925, he attended seminars led by Edmund Husserl
, the founder of phenomenology, and continued to write on physics from a logical positivist
perspective.
Carnap discovered a kindred spirit when he met Hans Reichenbach
at a 1923 conference. Reichenbach introduced Carnap to Moritz Schlick
, a professor at the University of Vienna
who offered Carnap a position in his department, which Carnap accepted in 1926. Carnap thereupon joined an informal group of Viennese intellectuals that came to be known as the Vienna Circle
, directed largely by Moritz Schlick
and including Hans Hahn
, Friedrich Waismann
, Otto Neurath
, and Herbert Feigl
, with occasional visits by Hahn's student Kurt Gödel
. When Wittgenstein
visited Vienna, Carnap would meet with him. He (with Hahn and Neurath) wrote the 1929 manifesto of the Circle, and (with Hans Reichenbach
) initiated the philosophy journal Erkenntnis
.
In 1928, Carnap published two important books:
In February 1930 Tarski lectured in Vienna, and during November 1930 Carnap visited Warsaw. On these occasions he learned much about Tarski's model theoretic
method of semantics
.
In 1931, Carnap was appointed Professor at the German language University of Prague
. There he wrote the book that was to make him the most famous logical positivist
and member of the Vienna Circle, his Logical Syntax of Language (Carnap 1934). In this work, Carnap advanced his Principle of Tolerance, according to which there is not any such thing as a "true" or "correct" logic or language. One is free to adopt whatever form of language is useful for one's purposes. In 1933, W. V. Quine met Carnap in Prague and discussed the latter's work at some length. Thus began the lifelong mutual respect these two men shared, one that survived Quine's eventual forceful disagreements with a number of Carnap's philosophical conclusions.
Carnap, whose socialist
and pacifist
beliefs made him at risk in Nazi Germany, emigrated to the United States
in 1935 and became a naturalized citizen in 1941. Meanwhile back in Vienna, Moritz Schlick
was murdered in 1936. From 1936 to 1952, Carnap was a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago
. Thanks partly to Quine's help, Carnap spent the years 1939-41 at Harvard, where he was reunited with Tarski. Carnap (1963) later expressed some irritation about his time at Chicago, where he and Charles W. Morris
were the only members of the department committed to the primacy of science and logic. (Their Chicago colleagues included Richard McKeon
, Mortimer Adler
, Charles Hartshorne
, and Manley Thompson.) Carnap's years at Chicago were nonetheless very productive ones. He wrote books on semantics
(Carnap 1942, 1943, 1956), modal logic
, being very similar in Carnap (1956) to the now-standard possible worlds
semantics for that logic Saul Kripke
proposed starting in 1959, and on the philosophical foundations of probability
and induction
(Carnap 1950, 1952).
After a stint at the Institute for Advanced Study
in Princeton
, he joined the philosophy department at UCLA
in 1954, Hans Reichenbach
having died the previous year. He had earlier refused an offer of a similar job at the University of California
, because accepting that position required that he sign a loyalty oath, a practice to which he was opposed on principle. While at UCLA, he wrote on scientific knowledge, the analytic - synthetic dichotomy, and the verification principle. His writings on thermodynamics
and on the foundations of probability
and induction
, were published posthumously as Carnap (1971, 1977, 1980).
Carnap taught himself Esperanto
when he was a mere fourteen years of age, and remained very sympathetic to it (Carnap 1963). He later attended the World Congress of Esperanto
in 1908 and 1922, and employed the language while traveling.
Carnap had four children by his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1929. His second wife committed suicide in 1964.
.
Carnap elaborated and extended the concept of logical syntax proposed by Wittgenstein in the Tractatus (Section 3.325).
However, Wittgenstein stated that propositions cannot represent logical form.
Carnap disagreed. Wittgenstein proposed the idea of logical syntax. It is Carnap who designed, formulated and implemented the details of logical syntax in philosophical analysis. Carnap defined logical syntax as:
In the U.S, the concept of logical syntax helped the development of natural language processing
and compiler
design (the Parrot virtual machine
and LLVM).
Carnap stated :
Carnap wanted only to end metaphysics but not philosophy.
Online bibliography. Under construction, with no entries dated later than 1937.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born philosopher
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
who was active in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
before 1935 and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle
Vienna Circle
The Vienna Circle was an association of philosophers gathered around the University of Vienna in 1922, chaired by Moritz Schlick, also known as the Ernst Mach Society in honour of Ernst Mach...
and an advocate of logical positivism
Logical positivism
Logical positivism is a philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge—with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology.It may be considered as a type of analytic...
.
Life and work
Carnap was born to a west German family that had been humble until his parents' generation. He began his formal education at the BarmenBarmen
Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which in 1929 with four other towns was merged with the city of Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. Barmen was the birth-place of Friedrich Engels and together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the...
Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
. From 1910 to 1914, he attended the University of Jena, intending to write a thesis in physics. But he also studied carefully Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
's Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Pure Reason
The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, first published in 1781, second edition 1787, is considered one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy. Also referred to as Kant's "first critique," it was followed by the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgement...
during a course taught by Bruno Bauch
Bruno Bauch
Bruno Bauch was a German Neo-Kantian philosopher.-Biography:Bauch was born in Groß-Nossen, Münsterberg district, Silesia and studied philosophy in Strasbourg, Heidelberg and Freiburg...
, and was one of very few students to attend Gottlob Frege's courses in mathematical logic
Mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is a subfield of mathematics with close connections to foundations of mathematics, theoretical computer science and philosophical logic. The field includes both the mathematical study of logic and the applications of formal logic to other areas of mathematics...
. After serving in the German army during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
for three years, he was given permission to study physics at the University of Berlin, 1917–18, where Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
was a newly appointed professor. Carnap then attended the University of Jena, where he wrote a thesis defining an axiomatic theory
Axiom
In traditional logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proven or demonstrated but considered either to be self-evident or to define and delimit the realm of analysis. In other words, an axiom is a logical statement that is assumed to be true...
of space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
and time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
. The physics department said it was too philosophical, and Bruno Bauch
Bruno Bauch
Bruno Bauch was a German Neo-Kantian philosopher.-Biography:Bauch was born in Groß-Nossen, Münsterberg district, Silesia and studied philosophy in Strasbourg, Heidelberg and Freiburg...
of the philosophy department said it was pure physics. Carnap then wrote another thesis, with Bauch's supervision, on the theory of space in a more orthodox Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
ian style, and published as Der Raum (Space) in a supplemental issue of Kant-Studien (1922). In it he makes the clear distinction between formal, physical and perceptual (e.g., visual
Visual space
Visual space is the perceptual space housing the visual world being experienced by an aware observer; it is the subjective counterpart of the space of physical objects before an observer's eyes.-Space of Physical Objects:...
) spaces.
In 1921, Carnap wrote a letter to Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
, who responded by copying by hand long passages from his Principia Mathematica
Principia Mathematica
The Principia Mathematica is a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics, written by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell and published in 1910, 1912, and 1913...
for Carnap's benefit, as neither Carnap nor Freiburg could afford a copy of this epochal work. In 1924 and 1925, he attended seminars led by Edmund Husserl
Edmund Husserl
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a philosopher and mathematician and the founder of the 20th century philosophical school of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, yet he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic...
, the founder of phenomenology, and continued to write on physics from a logical positivist
Logical positivism
Logical positivism is a philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge—with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology.It may be considered as a type of analytic...
perspective.
Carnap discovered a kindred spirit when he met Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical empiricism...
at a 1923 conference. Reichenbach introduced Carnap to Moritz Schlick
Moritz Schlick
Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick was a German philosopher, physicist and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle.-Early life and works:...
, a professor at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
who offered Carnap a position in his department, which Carnap accepted in 1926. Carnap thereupon joined an informal group of Viennese intellectuals that came to be known as the Vienna Circle
Vienna Circle
The Vienna Circle was an association of philosophers gathered around the University of Vienna in 1922, chaired by Moritz Schlick, also known as the Ernst Mach Society in honour of Ernst Mach...
, directed largely by Moritz Schlick
Moritz Schlick
Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick was a German philosopher, physicist and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle.-Early life and works:...
and including Hans Hahn
Hans Hahn
Hans Hahn was an Austrian mathematician who made contributions to functional analysis, topology, set theory, the calculus of variations, real analysis, and order theory.-Biography:...
, Friedrich Waismann
Friedrich Waismann
Friedrich Waismann was an Austrian mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. He is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle and one of the key theorists in logical positivism.-Birth & Early Interest in Philosophy:...
, Otto Neurath
Otto Neurath
Otto Neurath was an Austrian philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist...
, and Herbert Feigl
Herbert Feigl
Herbert Feigl was an Austrian philosopher and a member of the Vienna Circle.-Biography:The son of a weaver, Feigl was born in Reichenberg , Bohemia, and matriculated at the University of Vienna in 1922...
, with occasional visits by Hahn's student Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel
Kurt Friedrich Gödel was an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher. Later in his life he emigrated to the United States to escape the effects of World War II. One of the most significant logicians of all time, Gödel made an immense impact upon scientific and philosophical thinking in the...
. When Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
visited Vienna, Carnap would meet with him. He (with Hahn and Neurath) wrote the 1929 manifesto of the Circle, and (with Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical empiricism...
) initiated the philosophy journal Erkenntnis
Erkenntnis
Erkenntnis is a journal of philosophy that publishes papers in analytic philosophy. Its name is derived from the German word for knowledge recognition. The journal was founded by Hans Reichenbach and Rudolf Carnap in 1930. The journal was "refounded" by Wilhelm K. Essler, Carl G...
.
In 1928, Carnap published two important books:
- The Logical Structure of the World (German: "Der logische Aufbau der Welt"), in which he developed a rigorous formal version of empiricism, defining all scientific terms in phenomenalistic terms. The formal system of the Aufbau (as the work is commonly termed) was grounded in a single primitive dyadic predicate, which is satisfied if "two" individuals "resemble" each other. The Aufbau was greatly influenced by Principia MathematicaPrincipia MathematicaThe Principia Mathematica is a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics, written by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell and published in 1910, 1912, and 1913...
, and warrants comparison with the mereotopologicalMereotopologyIn formal ontology, a branch of metaphysics, and in ontological computer science, mereotopology is a first-order theory, embodying mereological and topological concepts, of the relations among wholes, parts, parts of parts, and the boundaries between parts....
metaphysics A. N. Whitehead developed over 1916-29. It appears, however, that Carnap soon became somewhat disenchanted with this book. In particular, he did not authorize an English translation until 1967. - Pseudoproblems in Philosophy asserted that many philosophical questions were meaningless, i.e., the way they were posed amounted to an abuse of language. An operational implication of this opinion was taken to be the elimination of metaphysicsMetaphysicsMetaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
from responsible human discourse. This is the statement for which Carnap was best known for many years.
In February 1930 Tarski lectured in Vienna, and during November 1930 Carnap visited Warsaw. On these occasions he learned much about Tarski's model theoretic
Model theory
In mathematics, model theory is the study of mathematical structures using tools from mathematical logic....
method of semantics
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
.
In 1931, Carnap was appointed Professor at the German language University of Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
. There he wrote the book that was to make him the most famous logical positivist
Logical positivism
Logical positivism is a philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge—with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology.It may be considered as a type of analytic...
and member of the Vienna Circle, his Logical Syntax of Language (Carnap 1934). In this work, Carnap advanced his Principle of Tolerance, according to which there is not any such thing as a "true" or "correct" logic or language. One is free to adopt whatever form of language is useful for one's purposes. In 1933, W. V. Quine met Carnap in Prague and discussed the latter's work at some length. Thus began the lifelong mutual respect these two men shared, one that survived Quine's eventual forceful disagreements with a number of Carnap's philosophical conclusions.
Carnap, whose socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
beliefs made him at risk in Nazi Germany, emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1935 and became a naturalized citizen in 1941. Meanwhile back in Vienna, Moritz Schlick
Moritz Schlick
Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick was a German philosopher, physicist and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle.-Early life and works:...
was murdered in 1936. From 1936 to 1952, Carnap was a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. Thanks partly to Quine's help, Carnap spent the years 1939-41 at Harvard, where he was reunited with Tarski. Carnap (1963) later expressed some irritation about his time at Chicago, where he and Charles W. Morris
Charles W. Morris
Charles W. Morris was an American semiotician and philosopher.-Background:A son of Charles William and Laura Morris, Charles William Morris was born on May 23, 1901...
were the only members of the department committed to the primacy of science and logic. (Their Chicago colleagues included Richard McKeon
Richard McKeon
Richard McKeon was an American philosopher.-Life, times, and influences:McKeon obtained his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1920, graduating at the early age of 20 despite serving briefly in the U.S. Navy during the First World War...
, Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Jerome Adler was an American philosopher, educator, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for the longest stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California...
, Charles Hartshorne
Charles Hartshorne
Charles Hartshorne was a prominent American philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. He developed the neoclassical idea of God and produced a modal proof of the existence of God that was a development of St. Anselm's Ontological Argument...
, and Manley Thompson.) Carnap's years at Chicago were nonetheless very productive ones. He wrote books on semantics
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
(Carnap 1942, 1943, 1956), modal logic
Modal logic
Modal logic is a type of formal logic that extends classical propositional and predicate logic to include operators expressing modality. Modals — words that express modalities — qualify a statement. For example, the statement "John is happy" might be qualified by saying that John is...
, being very similar in Carnap (1956) to the now-standard possible worlds
Possible Worlds
Possible Worlds may refer to:* Possible worlds, a concept in philosophy* Possible Worlds , by John Mighton** Possible Worlds , by Robert Lepage, based on the Mighton play* Possible Worlds , by Peter Porter...
semantics for that logic Saul Kripke
Saul Kripke
Saul Aaron Kripke is an American philosopher and logician. He is a professor emeritus at Princeton and teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center...
proposed starting in 1959, and on the philosophical foundations of probability
Probability
Probability is ordinarily used to describe an attitude of mind towards some proposition of whose truth we arenot certain. The proposition of interest is usually of the form "Will a specific event occur?" The attitude of mind is of the form "How certain are we that the event will occur?" The...
and induction
Inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning, also known as induction or inductive logic, is a kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations. It is commonly construed as a form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances...
(Carnap 1950, 1952).
After a stint at the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
in Princeton
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
, he joined the philosophy department at UCLA
UCLA Department of Philosophy
The UCLA Department of Philosophy is a constituent department of the Division of Humanities in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. From the mid-20th century, the department has been a leading and widely respected center for the study of Analytic Philosophy, especially Mathematical Logic,...
in 1954, Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical empiricism...
having died the previous year. He had earlier refused an offer of a similar job at the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, because accepting that position required that he sign a loyalty oath, a practice to which he was opposed on principle. While at UCLA, he wrote on scientific knowledge, the analytic - synthetic dichotomy, and the verification principle. His writings on thermodynamics
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...
and on the foundations of probability
Probability
Probability is ordinarily used to describe an attitude of mind towards some proposition of whose truth we arenot certain. The proposition of interest is usually of the form "Will a specific event occur?" The attitude of mind is of the form "How certain are we that the event will occur?" The...
and induction
Inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning, also known as induction or inductive logic, is a kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations. It is commonly construed as a form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances...
, were published posthumously as Carnap (1971, 1977, 1980).
Carnap taught himself Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
when he was a mere fourteen years of age, and remained very sympathetic to it (Carnap 1963). He later attended the World Congress of Esperanto
World Congress of Esperanto
The World Congress of Esperanto has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run of more than a hundred years. The congresses have been held since 1905 every year, except during World Wars I and II...
in 1908 and 1922, and employed the language while traveling.
Carnap had four children by his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1929. His second wife committed suicide in 1964.
Logical Syntax
Carnap's Logical Syntax of Language can be regarded as a response to Wittgenstein 's TractatusTractatus Logico-Philosophicus
The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the only book-length philosophical work published by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his lifetime. It was an ambitious project: to identify the relationship between language and reality and to define the limits of science...
.
Carnap elaborated and extended the concept of logical syntax proposed by Wittgenstein in the Tractatus (Section 3.325).
However, Wittgenstein stated that propositions cannot represent logical form.
Carnap disagreed. Wittgenstein proposed the idea of logical syntax. It is Carnap who designed, formulated and implemented the details of logical syntax in philosophical analysis. Carnap defined logical syntax as:
In the U.S, the concept of logical syntax helped the development of natural language processing
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
and compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
design (the Parrot virtual machine
Parrot virtual machine
Parrot is a register-based process virtual machine designed to run dynamic languages efficiently. It uses just-in-time compilation for speed to reduce the interpretation overhead. It is currently possible to compile Parrot assembly language and PIR to Parrot bytecode and execute it...
and LLVM).
The purpose of logical syntax
The purpose of logical syntax is to provide a system of concepts, a language, by the help of which the results of logical analysis will be exactly formulable.Carnap stated :
Carnap wanted only to end metaphysics but not philosophy.
The Rejection of Metaphysics
Carnap, in his book Philosophy and Logical Syntax, used the concept of verifiability to reject metaphysics.The function of logical analysis
Carnap used the method of logical analysis to reject metaphysics.See also
- Logical positivismLogical positivismLogical positivism is a philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge—with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology.It may be considered as a type of analytic...
- Vienna CircleVienna CircleThe Vienna Circle was an association of philosophers gathered around the University of Vienna in 1922, chaired by Moritz Schlick, also known as the Ernst Mach Society in honour of Ernst Mach...
- Philosophy of sciencePhilosophy of scienceThe philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
- SkepticismSkepticismSkepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...
- Carnap–Ramsey sentences
- Visual spaceVisual spaceVisual space is the perceptual space housing the visual world being experienced by an aware observer; it is the subjective counterpart of the space of physical objects before an observer's eyes.-Space of Physical Objects:...
Selected publications
- 1922. Der Raum: Ein Beitrag zur Wissenschaftslehre, Kant-Studien, Ergänzungshefte, no. 56. His Ph.D. thesis.
- 1926. Physikalische Begriffsbildung. Karlsruhe: Braun.
- 1928. Scheinprobleme in der Philosophie (Pseudoproblems of Philosophy). Berlin: Weltkreis-Verlag.
- 1928. Der Logische Aufbau der Welt. Leipzig: Felix Meiner Verlag. English translation by Rolf A. George, 1967. The Logical Structure of the World. Pseudoproblems in Philosophy. University of California Press.
- 1929. Abriss der Logistik, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Relationstheorie und ihrer Anwendungen. Springer.
- 1934. Logische Syntax der Sprache. English translation 1937, The Logical Syntax of Language. Kegan Paul.
- 1996 (1935). Philosophy and Logical Syntax. Bristol UK: Thoemmes. Excerpt.
- 1939, Foundations of Logic and Mathematics in International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, Vol. I, no. 3. University of Chicago Press.
- 1942. Introduction to Semantics. Harvard Uni. Press.
- 1943. Formalization of Logic. Harvard Uni. Press.
- 1956 (1947). Meaning and Necessity: a Study in Semantics and Modal Logic. University of Chicago Press.
- 1950. Logical Foundations of Probability. University of Chicago Press. Pp. 3-15 online.
- 1950. "Empiricism, Semantics, Ontology", Revue Internationale de Philosophie 4: 20-40.
- 1952. The Continuum of Inductive Methods. University of Chicago Press.
- 1958. Introduction to Symbolic Logic with Applications. Dover.
- 1963, "Intellectual Autobiography" in Schilpp (1963: 1-84).
- 1966. Philosophical Foundations of Physics. Martin Gardner, ed. Basic Books. Online excerpt.
- 1971. Studies in inductive logic and probability, Vol. 1. University of California Press.
- 1977. Two essays on entropy. Shimony, Abner, ed. University of California Press.
- 1980. Studies in inductive logic and probability, Vol. 2. Jeffrey, R. C., ed. University of California Press.
- 2000. Untersuchungen zur Allgemeinen Axiomatik. Edited from unpublished manuscript by T. Bonk and J. Mosterín. Darmstadt: Wissenschftliche Buchgesellschaft. 167 pp. ISBN 3-534-14298-5.
Online bibliography. Under construction, with no entries dated later than 1937.