CARNAP, Rudolf, Philosophy and Logical Syntax (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London), 1935 [first edition]

16mo; pp. 100 [2, ads]

Carnap’s classic early treatise on logical positivism, inscribed by the series editor C.K. Ogden, dated Febuary 1935 (‘To Dr Wind’, possibly the émigré art historian Edgar Wind).

As the author of the monumental Der Logische Aufbau der Welt (1928), Carnap was the intellectual force behind logical positivism. Here, in this much smaller work – published as number 70 in the famous ‘Psyche Miniatures’ series – Carnap introduces his work to an English audience.

One of Carnap’s aims in this particular text was to signal a departure from Wittgenstein’s Tractatus. Wittgenstein, writes Carnap, showed the way to a complete rejection of metaphysics. But where Wittgenstein admitted that (therefore) his own propositions were ‘senseless’, Carnap defends the sense of logical propositions, and offers his book as ‘an exact method of philosophy’ (p. 38).

Very good condition: spine slightly faded but generally excellent, clean and bright throughout.