Philosophy Speakers: Richard Zach (UCalgary), “Carnap’s General Axiomatics”

About the Talk During the hey-day of the Vienna Circle, Rudolf Carnap pursued two technical projects in logic: the first was the general axiomatics program, in which he attempted to develop a general theory of axiomatic theories within the framework of the type theory of Russell and Whitehead’s Principia mathematica. The second was the program of Logical Syntax of Language (1934). The latter is justly viewed as a breakthrough contribution in the history of modern logic, while the former is often dismissed as a misguided attempt to something that can’t be done in the outdated framework of pre-Gödel logic. A closer examination of Carnap’s general axiomatics projects reveals it as an important milestone to Gödel, Tarski, and Carnap’s own Logical Syntax. About the Speaker Richard Zach is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy at the University of Calgary. He works in logic, history of analytic philosophy, and the philosophy of mathematics. He is the editor of The Collected Works of Rudolf Carnap; Paul Bernays-Philosopher of Mathematics; and David Hilbert and Paul Bernays Grundlagen der Mathematik. He is a founding editor of Journal for the History of Analytic Philosophy, a founding editor of Review of Symbolic Logic, associate editor of Studia Logica, and subject editor of Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (History of Modern Logic). He recently returned to UCalgary following a visiting professorship at McGill University. Richard Zach’s UCalgary page
Location:
Social Sciences Room 1253
More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/philosophy-speakers-richard-zach-ucalgary-carnaps-general-axiomatics