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Birth and Education
Rudolf Carnap was born in 1891 in Germany. He attended the Universities of Jena and Freiburg from 1910 to 1914 during which he studied mathematics, physics and philosophy. During his studies at the University of Jena Carnap attended lectures by Frege on mathematical logic which considering Carnap's later work had big effect.
"Rudolf Carnap (1891—1970)", by Mauro Murzi,The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002, https://iep.utm.edu/ -
World War 1
Carnap's studies at this time, focusing on physics, were interrupted by the start of World War 1 during which Carnap served at the front until 1917. -
Physics to Philosophy
In 1917 Carnap was permitted to leave the front and study physics at the University of Berlin. Later after returning to the University of Jena he wrote his dissertation on physics and space but it was considered more philosophical. In 1921 he wrote another dissertation from a philosophical point of view and was published in 1922. -
Vienna Circle
In 1925 Carnap met Moritz Schlick and is invited to become assistant professor at the University of Vienna where he becomes a member of the Vienna circle. During the meetings of the Vienna Circle the ideas of logical positivism begin. Hempel, Carl G. and Duignan, Brian. "Rudolf Carnap". Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Sep. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rudolf-Carnap.
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The logical Structure of the World
In Carnap's 'The logical Structure of the World' he develops the empiricist reducibility thesis which states that terms that represent scientific concepts can be reduced into experiences or observations. Throughout his career Carnap was attempting to describe the types of language used in science. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. "Constitution theory". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Jul. 1998, https://www.britannica.com/topic/constitution-theory. -
Career in the United States
In 1935 Carnap moves to the United States at the onset on Nazi Germany. During his time in the United States Carnap dedicated his time to the logic of semantics and language and then later to the structure of scientific theories. As a follower of logical positivism, he believed there were two types of knowledge: logical and observation. Through his work Carnap was attempting to understand and define a language that would be suitable to scientific ideas.