Carnap: Der Raum

Der Raum marks a transitional stage in Carnap’s thought, and therefore has both negative and positive implications for his further development. On the one hand, he is here largely a follower of Husserl, and a correct understanding of that background is important if one wants to understand what it is that he later rejects as “metaphysics.” On the other hand, he has already broken with Husserl in certain ways, in part following other authors. His use of Hans Driesch’s Ordnungslehre, in (...) particular, foreshadows the theme of so-called “voluntarism” which will characterize his later thought. (shrink)

GUILLERMO E. ROSADO HADDOCK, The Young Carnap's Unknown Master: Husserl's Influence onDer Raum and Der Logische Aufbau Der Welt. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2008. xii + 138 pp. £50.00. I...

La consecuencia más difundida de la revolución en la geometría del siglo XIX es aquella que afirma que después de dichos cambios ya nada quedaría de la vieja noción de espacio como "forma de la intuición sensible", ni de la geometría como "condición trascendental" de la posibilidad de la experiencia. Este artículo se ocupa del intento de Rudolf Carnap por articular una concepción del espacio intuitivo que, al tiempo que se mantiene dentro del paradigma kantiano se hace eco de algunos (...) resultados obtenidos en las ciencias formales, específicamente de la teoría de grupos en su aplicación a la geometría. Su concepción se encuentra antecedida por los esfuerzos de Helmholtz, Poincaré, Cassirer y Husserl. The most diffused consecuence of the revolution in the geometry of the XIX century is what claims that after this changes anything would remain of the old notion of space as "the form of the sensible intuition", neither of geometry like "transcendental condition" of the possibility of experience. This paper deal with the Rudolf Carnap's attempt to articulate a conception of the intuitve space that, at the time that it mantains within kantian paradigm, it echoes of some results obtained in the formal sciences, specifically of the theory of groups in its application to geometry. Its conception is preceded by the efforts of Helmholtz, Poincaré, Cassirer and Husserl. (shrink)

By now it has become commonplace to note that the early Carnap was strongly influenced by Kant and the neo-Kantianism of his day.1 As early as 1977 Haack noted some striking similarities between the Aufbau and the first Critique; since then, Haack’s observation has been underscored by documenting the explicit role of the neo-Kantians in Carnap’s early education and intellectual development.2 Whether or not Carnap in the Aufbau was at all interested in traditional empiricism, or even strongly influenced by Russell, (...) remains debatable.3 However, a decisive early influence of Kant cannot be persuasively denied. Nevertheless, Kant and the neo-Kantians do not comprise the whole story. An equally important influence on Carnap in Der Raum, though perhaps slightly less so in the Aufbau, was Husserl.4 This paper begins the project of tracing the precise extent and nature of that influence.KeywordsPhysical SpaceFormal SpaceLogical EmpiricismVienna CircleLogical SyntaxThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. (shrink)