Reconstructing Carnap. The Aufbau project a century later
In the last thirty years, Carnap scholarship has taken two paths. Some scholars have unified Carnap's contributions to specific fields under an overall philosophical view (Gabriel 2004). Others have reconsidered the theoretical and historico-philosophical relationship between Der logische Aufbau der Welt and the philosophical traditions of neo-Kantianism, empiricism, phenomenology, conventionalism, and pragmatism. However, the two paths have never met, and the overall views of Carnap’s philosophy tend to hinge upon the later Carnap of Logische Syntax der Sprache, Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology, and The Logical Foundations of Probability.
This volume aims to explore a different approach to Carnap. In particular, it depicts an overall picture of Carnap’s philosophy that hinges upon his early project of rational reconstruction. For this purpose, the volume draws inspiration from the recent (neo-)Carnapian revival in ontology and meta-ontology, where the works of Huw Price (2009) and Amie Thomasson (2014), among others, reinvigorate some of Carnap’s philosophical classics. Accordingly, the volume aims to begin a revival by welcoming contributions bridging Carnap’s Aufbau and contemporary philosophical debates.
The topics listed below are especially encouraged for submission. However, papers relating Carnap and contemporary philosophical issues, or devoted to seldom explored relations between the early Carnap and other philosophical traditions will also be considered.
- Aufbau and mathematical philosophy
- Aufbau and analyticity
- Aufbau and explication
- Aufbau and intentionality
- Aufbau and philosophy of mind
- Aufbau and philosophy of science
- Aufbau and contemporary (meta-)ontology
- Aufbau and contemporary epistemology
- Aufbau and abstraction theory
- Aufbau and conceptual engineering
- Aufbau and analytic autobiography
Submission deadline: May 31, 2025
The volume is expected to be published in 2026.
