RUDOLF CARNAP AND THE LEGACY OF LOGICAL EMPIRICISM VIENNA CIRCLE INSTITUTE YEARBOOK

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1 RUDOLF CARNAP AND THE LEGACY OF LOGICAL EMPIRICISM VIENNA CIRCLE INSTITUTE YEARBOOK 16

2 VIENNA CIRCLE INSTITUTE YEARBOOK 16 Institut Wiener Kreis Society for the Advancement of the Scientific World Conception Series-Editor: Friedrich Stadler University of Vienna, Austria and Director, Institut Wiener Kreis Advisory Editorial Board: Jacques Bouveresse, Collège de France, Paris, France Martin Carrier, University of Bielefeld, Germany Nancy Cartwright, London School of Economics, UK Richard Creath, Arizona State University, USA Massimo Ferrari, University of Torino, Italy Michael Friedman, Stanford University, USA Maria Carla Galavotti, University of Bologna, Italy Peter Galison, Harvard University, USA Malachi Hacohen, Duke University, USA Rainer Hegselmann, University of Bayreuth, Germany Michael Heidelberger, University of Tübingen, Germany Don Howard, University of Notre Dame, USA Paul Hoyningen-Huene, University of Hanover, Germany Clemens Jabloner, Hans-Kelsen-Institut, Vienna, Austria Anne J. Kox, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Martin Kusch, University of Vienna, Austria James G. Lennox, University of Pittsburgh, USA Juha Manninen, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Finland Thomas Mormann, University of Donostia / San Sebastián, Spain Edgar Morscher, University of Salzburg, Austria Kevin Mulligan, Université de Genève, Switzerland Elisabeth Nemeth, University of Vienna, Austria Julian Nida-Rümelin, University of Munich, Germany Ilkka Niiniluoto, University of Helsinki, Finland Otto Pfersmann, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, France Miklós Rédei, London School of Economics, UK Alan Richardson, University of British Columbia, CDN Gerhard Schurz, University of Düsseldorf, Germany Peter Schuster, University of Vienna, Austria Karl Sigmund, University of Vienna, Austria Hans Sluga, University of California at Berkeley, USA Elliott Sober, University of Wisconsin, USA Antonia Soulez, Université de Paris 8, France Wolfgang Spohn, University of Konstanz, Germany Thomas E. Uebel, University of Manchester, UK Pierre Wagner, Université de Paris 1, Sorbonne, France C. Kenneth Waters, University of Minnesota, USA Jan Woleński, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland Gereon Wolters, University of Konstanz, Germany Anton Zeilinger, University of Vienna, Austria Honorary Consulting Editors: Robert S. Cohen, Boston University, USA Wilhelm K. Essler, University of Frankfurt/M., Germany Kurt Rudolf Fischer, University of Vienna, Austria Adolf Grünbaum, University of Pittsburgh, USA Rudolf Haller, University of Graz, Austria Gerald Holton, Harvard University, USA Jaakko Hintikka, Boston University, USA Allan S. Janik, University of Innsbruck, Austria Andreas Kamlah, University of Osnabrück, Germany Eckehart Köhler, University of Vienna, Austria Brian McGuinness, University of Siena, Italy Erhard Oeser, University of Vienna, Austria Jan Šebestík, CNRS Paris, France Christian Thiel, University of Erlangen, Germany Walter Thirring, University of Vienna, Austria Review Editor: Donata Romizi, University of Vienna, Austria Editorial Work/Layout/Production: Robert Kaller Camilla Nielsen Editorial Address: Institut Wiener Kreis Universitätscampus, Hof 1 Spitalgasse 2-4, A 1090 Wien, Austria Tel.: +431/ (international) or 01/ (national) Fax.: +431/ (international) or 01/ (national) ivc@univie.ac.at Homepage: The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.

3 Richard Creath Editor Rudolf Carnap and the Legacy of Logical Empiricism

4 Editor Richard Creath School of Life Sciences Arizona State University Tempe, AZ USA ISSN ISBN e-isbn DOI / Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London Library of Congress Control Number: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (

5 Table of Contents Editorial...vii Mi c h a e l Fr i e d m a n, Scientific Philosophy from Helmholtz to Carnap and Quine...1 Ge o r g Sc h i e m e r, Carnap s Untersuchungen: Logicism, Formal Aximatics, and Metatheory...13 Mat t h i a s Ne u b e r, Realism as a Problem of Language From Carnap to Reichenbach and Kaila...37 Ri c h a r d Cr e at h, Analyticity in the Theoretical Language: Is a Different Account Really Necessary?...57 Ch r i s t i a n Da m b ö c k, Rudolf Carnap and Wilhelm Dilthey: German Empiricism in the Aufbau...67 Ch r i s to p h Li m b e c k-li l i e nau, Carnap s Encounter with Pragmatism...89 Th o m a s Mo r m a n n, Toward a Theory of the Pragmatic A Priori: From Carnap to Lewis and Beyond Th o m a s Ue b e l, Carnap, Philosophy, and Politics in its Broadest Sense General Part Review Essays Th o m a s Mo r m a n n, A Virtual Debate in Exile: Cassirer and the Vienna Circle after Jo h n Mi c h a e l, Emergence still trendy after all these years Re v i e w s Anne Siegetsleitner (Ed.), Logischer Empirismus, Werte und Moral, Wien New York: Springer, 2010 (Massimo Ferrari) Matthew Eve and Christopher Burke (Eds.), Otto Neurath: From hieroglyphics to Isotype. A Visual Autobiography. London: Hyphen Press (Günther Sandner) v

6 vi Table of Contents Giovanni Vailati. Logic and Pragmatism. Selected Essays by Giovanni Vailati. Edited by Claudia Arrighi, Paola Cantù, Mauro de Zan, and Patrick Suppes. Stanford: CSLI, (Paolo Palmieri) The Significance of the Hypothetical in the Natural Sciences. Ed. by Michael Heidelberger and Gregor Schiemann. Berlin: De Gruyter, (Miles MacLeod) Karl von Meyenn (ed.), Eine Entdeckung von ganz außerordentlicher Tragweite. Schrödingers Briefwechsel zur Wellenmechanik und zum Katzenparadox. Springer-Verlag: Berlin Heidelberg (Wolfgang L. Reiter) Activities of the Institute Vienna Circle Index of Names...201

7 Ed i to r i a l Rudolf Carnap was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, and he came to worldwide fame during his time in Vienna, , as a core member of the Vienna Circle. So the eight papers in this volume, all on Carnap and all given at a conference in Vienna, represent a homecoming of sorts. But the papers do not confine themselves to Carnap alone or to his time in Vienna. They explore his history and motivation, his interaction with other philosophers in both Europe and America, various aspects of his work on logic and philosophy of science, and even his political engagement. The conference at which these papers were presented, Rudolf Carnap and the Legacy of Logical Empiricism, was held on the 28th and 29 th of June, 2010 at the University of Vienna, under the auspices of the Institute Vienna Circle. The meeting was organized jointly by Friedrich Stadler for the Institute and by Richard Zach on behalf of the Collected Works of Rudolf Carnap, forthcoming from the Open Court Publishing Company. Carnap wanted philosophy to be scientific, that is, a progressive, cooperative venture. But as Michael Friedman shows the ideal of a scientific philosophy appeared long before Carnap and continues to inspire many philosophers even today. Logic was central to Carnap s vision of a scientific philosophy, and Georg Schiemer explores one of Carnap s large-scale logic projects, the Untersuchungen zur allgemeinen Axiomatik. This work was set aside in the 1930s and published only well after Carnap s death. Schiemer is able to show that the work is subtle and gives important clues to Carnap s thinking in logic. Philosophy of science was also central to Carnap s vision of philosophy. Matthias Neuber explores the scientific realism defended by Hans Reichenbach and Eino Kaila and Carnap s resistance to it. Richard Creath examines the related issue of Carnap s proposal for endowing theoretical terms with meaning by tying theories to their Ramsey sentences. Christian Damböck examines another empirical tradition, German empiricism, especially as exemplified by Wilhelm Dilthey, and assesses its influence on Carnap s view in the Aufbau. Christoph Limbeck-Lilienau and Thomas Mormann, in their separate papers, explore the relations between Carnap and American pragmatism. They approach this topic differently, but each shows that this relation is both complex and illuminating. Finally, Thomas Uebel examines the political dimension of the Vienna Circle and particularly of Carnap within it. Uebel shows that logic and philosophy of science were from the beginning conceived of as part of a larger project that was indeed political in the broadest sense. Taken together, the papers show the rich variety of Carnap s concerns and his place within important intellectual traditions that shape our thinking even today. vii

8 viii Editorial Thanks go to the organizers of the conference, Friedrich Stadler and Richard Zach, to the host institutions, the Institute Vienna Circle and the University of Vienna, to the conference participants, and to the production team at the Institute. Richard Creath Tempe, Arizona, July 7, 2011