Carnap’s Logical Syntax of Language

279 Pages·2009·2.375 MB·

by  Pierre Wagner (eds.)

HistoryofAnalyticPhilosophy
SeriesEditor:MichaelBeaney
Titlesinclude:
OmarW.Nasim
BERTRANDRUSSELLANDTHEEDWARDIANPHILOSOPHERS
ConstructingtheWorld
PierreWagner(editor)
CARNAP’SLOGICALSYNTAXOFLANGUAGE
Forthcoming:
AndrewAranaandCarlosAlvarez(editors)
ANALYTICPHILOSOPHYANDTHEFOUNDATIONSOFMATHEMATICS
SébastienGandon
RUSSELL’SUNKNOWNLOGICISM
AStudyintheHistoryandPhilosophyofMathematics
SandraLapointe
BERNARDBOLZANO’STHEORETICALPHILOSOPHY
AnIntroduction
DouglasPatterson
ALFREDTARSKI
PhilosophyofLanguageandLogic
ErichReck(editor)
THEHISTORICTURNINANALYTICPHILOSOPHY
GrahamStevens
THETHEORYOFDESCRIPTIONS
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AlsobyPierreWagner
MATHÉMATIQUESETEXPÉRIENCE,1918–1940(2008)
(Co-editorwithJacquesBouveresse)
LALOGIQUE(2007)
L’ÂGED’ORDEL’EMPIRISMELOGIQUE(2006)
(Co-editorwithChristianBonnet)
PHILOSOPHIEDESSCIENCES(2vols,2004)
(Co-editorwithSandraLaugier)
LESPHILOSOPHESETLASCIENCE(2002,editor)
LAMACHINEENLOGIQUE(1998)
Carnap’s Logical Syntax
of Language
Editedby
Pierre Wagner
UniversitéParis1Panthéon-Sorbonne
IHPST,Paris
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Carnap’sLogicalsyntaxoflanguage/editedbyPierreWagner.
p. cm.—(Historyofanalyticphilosophy)
ProceedingsofaconferenceheldOct.5–6,2005inParis,France.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindex.
1. Carnap,Rudolf,1891–1970.LogischeSyntaxderSprache—
Congresses. 2. Logic,Symbolicandmathematical—Congresses.
3. Grammar,Comparativeandgeneral—Syntax—Congresses.
4. Logicalpositivism—Congresses. I. Wagner,Pierre.
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Contents
SeriesEditor’sForeword vii
NotesonContributors x
Acknowledgements xii
NoteonReferences xiii
Introduction 1
PierreWagner
PartI:TheRoutetoTheLogicalSyntaxofLanguage
1 Carnap’sLogicalSyntaxintheContextoftheViennaCircle 53
ThomasUebel
2 FromWittgenstein’sPrisontotheBoundlessOcean:Carnap’s
DreamofLogicalSyntax 79
SteveAwodeyandA.W.Carus
PartII:PhilosophyofMathematicsandLogic
3 Carnap’sSyntaxProgrammeandthePhilosophyofMathematics 109
WarrenGoldfarb
4 CarnaponLogicalConsequenceforLanguagesIandII 121
PhilippedeRouilhan
5 Carnap’sCriterionofLogicality 147
DenisBonnay
PartIII:Carnap’sPhilosophicalProgrammeand
TraditionalPhilosophy
6 LogicalSyntax,Quasi-Syntax,andPhilosophy 167
JacquesBouveresse
7 TheAnalysisofPhilosophyinLogicalSyntax:Carnap’sCritique
andHisAttemptataReconstruction 184
PierreWagner
v
vi Contents
8 TheGentleStrengthofTolerance:TheLogicalSyntaxof
LanguageandCarnap’sPhilosophicalProgramme 203
RichardCreath
PartIV:Carnap,Empiricism,andthePrincipleof
Tolerance
9 FromTolerancetoReciprocalContainment 217
ThomasRicketts
10 Tolerance,Intuition,andEmpiricism 236
MichaelFriedman
Bibliography 250
IndexofNames 263
IndexofSubjects 265
Series Editor’s Foreword
Duringthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcenturyanalyticphilosophygradually
established itself as the dominant tradition in the English-speaking world,
and over the last few decades it has taken firm root in many other parts of
theworld.Therehasbeenincreasingdebateoverjustwhat‘analyticphiloso-
phy’means,asthemovementhasramifiedintothecomplextraditionthat
we know today, but the influence of the concerns, ideas, and methods of
earlyanalyticphilosophyoncontemporarythoughtisindisputable.Allthis
hasledtogreaterself-consciousnessamonganalyticphilosophersaboutthe
nature and origins of their tradition, and scholarly interest in its historical
developmentandphilosophicalfoundationshasblossomedinrecentyears,
withtheresultthatthehistoryofanalyticphilosophyisnowrecognizedas
amajorfieldofphilosophyinitsownright.
The main aim of the series in which the present book appears, the first
series of its kind, is to create a venue for work on the history of analytic
philosophy, consolidating the area as a major field of philosophy and pro-
moting further research and debate. The ‘history of analytic philosophy’ is
tobeunderstoodbroadly,ascoveringtheperiodfromthelastthreedecades
of the nineteenth century to the start of the twenty-first century, begin-
ning with the work of Frege, Russell, Moore, and Wittgenstein, who are
generally regarded as its main founders, and the influences upon them,
and going right up to the most recent developments. In allowing the ‘his-
tory’ to extend to the present, the aim is to encourage engagement with
contemporarydebatesinphilosophy,forexample,inshowinghowthecon-
cerns of early analytic philosophy relate to current concerns. In focusing
onanalyticphilosophy,theaimisnottoexcludecomparisonswithother–
earlier or contemporary – traditions, or consideration of figures or themes
thatsomemightregardasmarginaltotheanalytictraditionbutwhichalso
throwlightonanalyticphilosophy.Indeed,afurtheraimoftheseriesisto
deepenourunderstandingofthebroadercontextinwhichanalyticphiloso-
phydeveloped,bylooking,forexample,attherootsofanalyticphilosophy
inneo-KantianismorBritishidealism,ortheconnectionsbetweenanalytic
philosophy and phenomenology, or discussing the work of philosophers
who were important in the development of analytic philosophy but who
arenowoftenforgotten.
The present book, edited by Pierre Wagner, is a collection of essays on
oneofthemostimportanttextsinthedevelopmentofanalyticphilosophy,
Rudolf Carnap’s Logische Syntax der Sprache (The Logical Syntax of Language),
first published in German in 1934 and in English in 1937. Influenced by
Frege, Russell, and the early Wittgenstein, Carnap was a central figure in
vii
viii SeriesEditor’sForeword
what can be regarded as the second generation of analytic philosophers,
whose work came to maturity in the 1930s – the period in which analytic
philosophy established itself as a movement. His first major work was Der
logische Aufbau der Welt (The Logical Structure of the World), published in
1928, in which he sought ‘rational reconstructions’ of our empirical con-
cepts based on what he called ‘elementary experiences’. As the motto for
hisbookhehadtakenRussell’sfamous‘maximinscientificphilosophising’:
‘Wherever possible, logical constructions are to be substituted for inferred
entities’.
Carnap’sprojectintheAufbau,however,whilenotfoundationalistinthe
traditional sense, was still conceived epistemologically. His Logical Syntax,
on the other hand, represented a radical break with the past. Inspired by
Wittgenstein’sTractatus,itmarkedCarnap’sown‘linguisticturn’,andinflu-
enced as well by Hilbert’s idea of metamathematics and the developments
inlogicinthe1930s,inwhichCarnaphimselfplayedaleadingrole,itwas
Carnap’sfirstattempttorespondtoWittgenstein’sstricturesonwhatcould
meaningfully be said by distinguishing between the ‘material mode’ and
‘formal mode’ of speech. Rejecting metaphysics, what was left of philoso-
phy was identified with the ‘logic of science’, in turn understood as ‘the
logical syntax of the language of science’. A sentence in the material mode
such as ‘5 is a number’, for example, which might generate metaphysical
questionsastothenatureofnumbers,wastobetranslatedintotheformal
modeas‘“5”isanumeral’,whosemeaningwastobeclarifiedbyelucidating
theroleitplaysinanarithmeticallanguage.Carnapallowed,however,that
theremightbevariouspossiblelanguages,thedecisionbetweenthembeing
apragmaticonebasedontheirutilityinscience.TheLogicalSyntaxcontains
thefirstarticulationofCarnap’sfamous‘principleoftolerance’:
Inlogic,therearenomorals.Everyoneisatlibertytobuilduphisownlogic,
i.e.hisownformoflanguage,ashewishes.Allthatisrequiredofhimis
that, if he wishes to discuss it, he must state his methods clearly, and
givesyntacticalrulesinsteadofphilosophicalarguments.(LogicalSyntax,
p.52)
ShortlyafterthepublicationoftheLogicalSyntax,influencedbyTarski’swork
on truth, Carnap underwent a ‘semantic turn’ and rejected the exclusive
emphasis on the syntactic approach. But he retained his belief in the prin-
cipleoftoleranceandhisgeneralconceptionofphilosophy,whichbecame
refined further in distinguishing between internal and external questions
and in his discussions of ‘explication’. So the Logical Syntax can indeed be
regardedasthefirstfloweringofCarnap’smaturephilosophy,andisimpor-
tant, too, for the influence it had on many subsequent philosophers, from
his Vienna Circle colleagues, as well as Ayer and Quine, onwards. While
Carnap’sAufbauhasreceivedalotofattentionoverthelastdecadeorso,and
SeriesEditor’sForeword ix
Carnap’ssemanticworks(suchasMeaningandNecessity)haveneverdropped
fromtheradar(eveniftheyhaveonlyremained,regrettably,asthetargetof
latercriticssuchasQuine),theLogicalSyntaxhasbeenrelativelyneglected.
The present volume, the first book devoted to the work, puts the Logical
Syntaxfirmlybackinthepantheonofanalyticphilosophy.Withasubstan-
tialintroductionbytheeditor,clearlyandhelpfullyexplainingthecontext
and contentofthe work, andrich andinsightfulcontributionsfrom many
of the leading scholars of Carnap’s philosophy, covering all aspects of the
work, this volume will be the benchmark for all future discussions of the
LogicalSyntax.
MichaelBeaney
September2008