Carnap's Construction of the World: The Aufbau and the Emergence of Logical Empiricism

by Alan W. Richardson

Overview

This book is a major contribution to the history of analytic philosophy in general and logical positivism in particular. It provides the first detailed and comprehensive study of Rudolf Carnap, one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century philosophy. This book fills a significant gap in the literature on the history of twentieth-century philosophy, and will be of particular importance to historians of analytic philosophy, philosophers of science, and historians of science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521052009
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/29/2008
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.59(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Reconstructing the Aufbau; 2. The problem of objectivity: an overview of Carnap's constitutional project; 3. An outline of the constitutional projects for objectivity; 4. The background to early Carnap: themes from Kant; 5. The fundamentals of neo-Kantian epistemology; 6. Carnap's neo-Kantian origins: Der Raum; 7. Critical conventionalism; 8. Epistemology between logic and science: the essential tension; 9. After objectivity: logical empiricism as philosophy of science; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...an intensive examination of virtually all of Carnap's earlier writings....I believe that the book will therefore be indispensable for all future work on Carnap." Michael Friedman, author of Kant and the Exact Sciences

"Richardson presents a clearly written, carefully researched and well-argued interpretation of Rudolf Carnap's struggle to move beyond the neo-Kantian epistemology in which he was trained." Charles E. Kielkopf, Mathematical Reviews

"Richardson's book is rich in telling detail that will no doubt be debated in scholarly articles...It is an added bonus that Richardson provides good reasons for optimism." The Philosophical Review

From the Publisher