The Old Husserl and the Young Carnap

Guillermo E. Rosado Haddock (Puerto Rico) gives a talk at the MCMP workshop "Influences on the Aufbau" (1-3 July, 2013) titled "The Old Husserl and the Young Carnap". Abstract: In his ‘Intellectual Autobiography’ Carnap barely refers to Husserl and not once with reference to his own work. He mentions Kant and a pair of Neo-Kantians as the main philosophical influences in Der Raum, and Mach, Rusell and the Gestalt psychologists as main influences in Der logische Aufbau der Welt. Moreover, he stresses that he heard three lecture courses by Frege. On the other hand, there are some signs in Husserl’s late correspondence not only of having known Carnap, but also of a lack of sympathy for him. The present paper addresses this mysterious relation and the fact that Husserl was a decisive influence precisely in those two writings of Carnap.