Husserl's role in Carnap's Der Raum
pp. 179-190
in: Thomas Bonk (ed), Language, truth and knowledge, Berlin, Springer, 2003Abstract
By now it has become commonplace to note that the early Carnap was strongly influenced by Kant and the neo-Kantianism of his day.1 As early as 1977 Haack noted some striking similarities between the Aufbau and the first Critique; since then, Haack's observation has been underscored by documenting the explicit role of the neo-Kantians in Carnap's early education and intellectual development.2 Whether or not Carnap in the Aufbau was at all interested in traditional empiricism, or even strongly influenced by Russell, remains debatable.3 However, a decisive early influence of Kant cannot be persuasively denied. Nevertheless, Kant and the neo-Kantians do not comprise the whole story. An equally important influence on Carnap in Der Raum (his doctoral dissertation), though perhaps slightly less so in the Aufbau, was Husserl.4 This paper begins the project of tracing the precise extent and nature of that influence.
