Rudolf Carnap’s incorporation of the Geisteswissenschaften in the Aufbau

Abstract

This paper investigates the various ways in which Rudolf Carnap incorporated contemporary epistemological problems concerning the Geisteswissenschaften in Der logische Aufbau der Welt. I argue that Carnap defends a non-reductive incorporation of the Geisteswissenschaften within the unity of science. To this end Carnap aims to solve the problem of individuality, which was the focus of attention for important philosophers of the Geisteswissenschaften, like Dilthey, Rickert and Windelband. At the same time, Carnap also argues that his constitutional method, which transforms cultural objects to psychological or physical objects, does not imply a loss of autonomy for the Geisteswissenschaften. Besides this defense of autonomy, Carnap also incorporates several central notions of contemporary theory of the Geisteswissenschaften into his theory of the Aufbau: cultural manifestation, phenomenology of cultural experience, and the method of Verstehen