Carnap, Rudolf (kärˈnäp, –năp) [key], 1891–1970, German-American
philosopher. He taught philosophy at the Univ. of Vienna
(1926–31) and at the German Univ. in Prague (1931–35). After
going to the United States he taught at the Univ. of Chicago
(1936–52) and at the Univ. of California at Los Angeles
(1954–62). Carnap was one of the most influential of
contemporary philosophers; he is known as a founder of logical
positivism and made important contributions to logic, semantics,
and the philosophy of science. In Logische Syntax der Sprache
(1934; tr. The Logical Syntax of Language, 1937) he defined
philosophy as "the logic of the sciences" and considered it a
general language whose only legitimate concern could be to
describe and criticize the language of the particular sciences.
All propositions were held to be either tautological (embodying
logical or mathematical systems), scientific (embodying
philosophy properly understood), or nonsensical (embodying the
nonverifiable propositions of traditional philosophy)