This post in the third in a series on Science, Technology, and Society. The previous post is here, and the next post is here. All posts in the series have previously appeared on the Partially Examined Life group page on Facebook. “The meaning of a method is the method of its verification.” – Moritz Schlick “If you cannot predict, you have not explained.” – Carl Continue Reading …
Episode 67: Carnap on Logic and Science (Citizens Only)
On Rudolph Carnap's The Logical Structure of the World (1928). What can we know? Carnap thinks that all the various spheres of knowledge (e.g. particle physics, attributions of mental states, moral claims, the economy) are logically interrelated, that you can in fact translate sentences about any of these into sentences about sets of basic, momentary experiences. This book, Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 67: Carnap on Logic and Science
This is a short preview of the full episode. Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more Continue Reading …
Topic for #67: Carnap on Logic and Science
On 11/15/12 we recorded a discussion of Rudolph Carnap's The Logical Structure of the World (1928), often referred to as "the Aufbau," because it sounds cool, and the German title is Der Logische Aufbau der Welt. Listen to the episode. To get a good sense of Carnap's project, we read pages 1-136, plus the subsequent chapter summaries: pages 166-171, 240-243, 298-300. The Continue Reading …
Episode 8: Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (and Carnap): What Can We Legitimately Talk About?
Continuing last ep's discussion of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus with some Rudolph Carnap (a logical positivist from the Vienna Circle: “The Rejection of Metaphysics” from his 1935 book Philosophy and Logical Syntax) about what kind of crazy talk is outside of legitimate discourse. Carnap interprets W as simply ruling out as unscientific most of the talk we'd Continue Reading …