The Cambridge Companion to Carnap

by Michael Friedman (Editor), Richard Creath (Editor)

Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970) is increasingly regarded as one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. He was one of the leading figures of the logical empiricist movement associated with the Vienna Circle and a central figure in the analytic tradition more generally. He made major contributions to philosophy of science and philosophy of logic, and, perhaps most importantly, to our understanding of the nature of philosophy as a discipline. In this volume a team of contributors explores the major themes of his philosophy and discusses his relationship with the Vienna Circle and with philosophers such as Frege, Husserl, Russell, and Quine. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Carnap currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Carnap.

Genres: Philosophy, Logic, Nonfiction

390 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2007

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Reviews

[Tim Landström · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book consists of several essays covering the entirety of Carnap’s intellectual career.
Many of the essays are historical in nature and do not always go into detail about the actual theories and technicalities of the debates mentioned. The essays essentially discuss influences on Carnap and cover his correspondence with several other thinkers. For example the influences of Frege and Husserl, his correspondence with Russel and debates with Neurath and others in the Vienna circle. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of Carnap or the development of 20th century analytic philosophy in general. I would not however, recommend it as an introduction to Carnap's philosophy. I feel like many of the essays do not go into great detail about the actual tenets or theories themselves, and behave more as the title suggests, as companion essays.