The Limits of Logical Empiricism: Selected Papers of Arthur Pap (Synthese Library Book 334)

This volume brings together a selection of the most philosophically significant papers of Arthur Pap. As Sanford Shieh explains in the Introduction to this volume, Pap’s work played an important role in the development of the analytic tradition. This role goes beyond the merely historical fact that Pap’s views of dispositional and modal concepts were influential. As a sympathetic critic of logical empiricism, Pap, like Quine, saw a deep tension in logical empiricism at its very best, in the work of Carnap. But Pap’s critique of Carnap is quite different from Quine’s, and represents the discovery of limits beyond which empiricism cannot go, where there lies nothing other than intuitive knowledge of logic itself. Pap’s arguments for this intuitive knowledge anticipate Etchemendy’s recent critique of the model-theoretic account of logical consequence. Pap’s work also anticipates prominent developments in the contemporary neo-Fregean philosophy of mathematics championed by Wright and Hale. Finally, Pap’s major philosophical preoccupation, the concepts of necessity and possibility, provides distinctive solutions and perspectives on issues of contemporary concern in the metaphysics of modality. In particular, Pap’s account of modality allows us to see the significance of Kripke’s well-known arguments on necessity and apriority in a new light. This volume will be of interest to all researchers in the philosophical history of the analytic tradition, in philosophy of logic, philosophy of mathematics, and contemporary analytic metaphysics. Front Matter....Pages I-XIII ON THE MEANING OF NECESSITY (1943)....Pages 47-55 THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF A PRIORI (1944)....Pages 57-75 LOGIC AND THE SYNTHETIC A PRIORI (1949)....Pages 77-90 ARE ALL NECESSARY PROPOSITIONS ANALYTIC? (1949)....Pages 91-108 NECESSARY PROPOSITIONS AND LINGUISTIC RULES (1955)....Pages 109-143 Front Matter....Pages I-XIII NOTE ON THE “SEMANTIC” AND THE “ABSOLUTE” CONCEPTS OF TRUTH (1952)....Pages 147-154 PROPOSITIONS, SENTENCES, AND THE SEMANTIC DEFINITION OF TRUTH (1954)....Pages 155-164 BELIEF AND PROPOSITIONS (1957)....Pages 165-179 SEMANTIC EXAMINATION OF REALISM (1947)....Pages 181-193 Front Matter....Pages I-XIII LOGIC AND THE CONCEPT OF ENTAILMENT(1950)....Pages 197-204 STRICT IMPLICATION, ENTAILMENT, AND MODAL ITERATION (1955)....Pages 205-212 MATHEMATICS, ABSTRACT ENTITIES, AND MODERN SEMANTICS (1957)....Pages 213-232 EXTENSIONALITY, ATTRIBUTES, AND CLASSES (1958)....Pages 233-236 A NOTE ON LOGIC AND EXISTENCE (1947)....Pages 237-241 THE LINGUISTIC HIERARCHY AND THE VICIOUS-CIRCLE PRINCIPLE (1954)....Pages 243-246 Front Matter....Pages I-XIII OTHER MINDS AND THE PRINCIPLE OF VERIFIABILITY (1951)....Pages 249-268 SEMANTIC ANALYSIS AND PSYCHOPHYSICAL DUALISM (1952)....Pages 269-279 Front Matter....Pages I-XIII THE CONCEPT OF ABSOLUTE EMERGENCE (1951)....Pages 285-293 REDUCTION SENTENCES AND OPEN CONCEPTS (1953)....Pages 295-316 EXTENSIONAL LOGIC AND LAWS OF NATURE (1955)....Pages 317-326 Front Matter....Pages I-XIII Introduction....Pages 3-43 Front Matter....Pages I-XIII DISPOSITION CONCEPTS AND EXTENSIONAL LOGIC (1958)....Pages 327-350 ARE PHYSICAL MAGNITUDES OPERATIONALLY DEFINABLE? (1959)....Pages 351-362 Front Matter....Pages I-XIII ARTHUR PAP (1921-1959): A BRIEF INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY....Pages 365-368 ARTHUR PAP: BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES....Pages 369-374 A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ARTHUR PAP....Pages 375-379 This volume collects some of the most significant papers of Arthur Pap. Pap’s work played an important role in the development of the analytic tradition. This goes beyond the merely historical fact of Pap’s influential views of dispositional and modal concepts. Pap's writings in philosophy of science, modality, and philosophy of mathematics provide insightful alternative perspectives on philosophical problems of current interest. With An Introduction By Sanford Shieh ; Edited By Alfons Keupink And Sanford Shieh. Collection Of Texts Published Previously. Bibliography Of Arthur Pap P. 375-379. Includes Bibliographical References.