The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap

Coffa J. Alberto Coffa J. Albert Wessels Linda

ISBN 10: 0521447070 / ISBN 13: 9780521447072

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1993

About this Item

PRINT ON DEMAND pp. 460.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521447070
• ISBN 13: 9780521447072
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This major publication is a history of the semantic tradition in philosophy from the early nineteenth century through its incarnation in the work of the Vienna Circle, the group of logical positivists that emerged in the years 1925–1935 in Vienna who were characterised by a strong commitment to empiricism, a high regard for science, and a conviction that modern logic is the primary tool of analytic philosophy. In the first part of the book, Alberto Coffa traces the roots of logical positivism in a semantic tradition that arose in opposition to Kant's theory that a priori knowledge is based on pure intuition and the constitutive powers of the mind. In Part II, Coffa chronicles the development of this tradition by members and associates of the Vienna Circle. Much of Coffa's analysis draws on the unpublished notes and correspondence of many philosophers. The book, however, is not merely a history of the semantic tradition from Kant 'to the Vienna Station'. Coffa also critically reassesses the role of semantic notions in understanding the ground of a priori knowledge and its relation to empirical knowledge and questions the turn the tradition has taken since Vienna.

Book Description

This major publication is a history of the semantic tradition in philosophy from the early nineteenth century through its incarnation in the work of the Vienna Circle of logical positivists. J. Albert Coffa traces the roots of logical positivism in a semantic tradition that arose in opposition to Kant's theory that a priori knowledge is based on pure intuition and the constitutive powers of the mind, and chronicles the development of this tradition by members and associates of the Vienna Circle.