Some Remarks on Carnap's Ingenuity in Creating Logical Forms

Philosophy of Science Colloquium
The Institute Vienna Circle holds a Philosophy of Science Colloquium with talks by our present fellows.

Date: 23/04/2026

Time: 16h45

Venue: New Institute Building (NIG), Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien, HS 3C

Abstract:

Carnap's logical-philosophical oeuvre is characterized by his remarkable creativity in inventing and using new logical forms. This applies to all areas of semiotics: from syntax via semantics through to pragmatics. In my talk, I will consider some paradigmatic cases: (a) basic structures in his Quasizerlegung/Quasianalyse (quasi-decomposition/quasi-analysis), (b) the concept of state descriptions inspired by Leibniz and Wittgenstein to get a semantics for intensional contexts, and (c) the proposal to use certain n-ary predicates with n ≥ 3 as basic patterns of concepts of formal pragmatics. Every decision for a logical form is philosophically motivated and, in Carnap's case, always made with the aim of constructing a logical theory.