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Rudolf Carnap
1910 to 1914, Carnap studied philosophy, physics and mathematics at the university in Jena. -
Rudolf Carnap
After serving in WWI, Carnap developed a dissertation on an axiomatic system which was comprised of 1) Undefined terms (e.g. point and line), 2) Defined terms (e.g. angle and parallel lines), 3) Postulates (statements that are considered to be true without being proven e.g. a line of points that extend from point A to point B), 4) Theorems (statements proved to be true using theory and logic). -
Rudolf Carnap
He earned a doctorate in 1921. He argued that the conflicts between the various theories of space then held by scholars resulted from the fact that those theories actually dealt with quite different subjects; he called them, respectively, formal space, physical space, and intuitive space and exhibited their principal characteristics and fundamental differences. -
Rudolf Carnap
Carnap was involved with the Vienna Circle (a group of philosophers and other scholars). -
Rudolf Carnap
Carnap published his first book “The Logical Structure of the World (Der Logische Aufbau der Welt)” {Aufbau = construction or structure}. He aimed to prove the Constitution Theory. -
Rudolf Carnap
Carnap moved to Prague, Czech Republic, to become professor of natural philosophy at the German University. His contributions have been invaluable to The Logical Syntax of Language. In the logic, he explained that the formal language is instructed with well-formed formulas and rules. There was no need to be translated or interpreted. A syntax of mathematics is such as an χ, when χ < 8. -
Rudolf Carnap
Carnap stayed in Prague, however, was cut short by the Nazi rise to power. In 1935, Carnap moved back to the United States because of Hitler and the Nazi Party’s attempt to rise to power in Germany. -
Rudolf Carnap
Carnap became interested in semantics. He wrote several books on semantics and began to work on the structure of scientific theories. He published an article “The Methodological Character of Theoretical Concepts” in 1958 mainly to explain the distinction between the observation languages (observable event) and the theoretical language (theoretical or hypothetical construct). -
Rudolf Carnap
Logical Foundations of Probability, Carnap's last book, (1950); he discussed the problems of probability (probable to predict future) and induction (an analysis of relationship between cause and effect). -
Rudolf Carnap
In sum, Carnap's work has had an enormous influence in the development of philosophy that problems can be logical in their arguments, words can be defined in a clear term, and spiritual belief can be practiced for the meaning of life.