TYLA: R. Carnap's Logical Positivist Thought

Author's name: Pham Minh Hoang

Thesis title:R. Carnap's logical positivist thought

Field of study of the dissertation: Philosophy

Specialization: Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism Code: 62.22.03.02

Name of the postgraduate training unit: University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

1. Purpose and scope of the thesis

Research objective: This thesis clarifies the content of R. Carnap's logical positivist thought.

Subject of study: R. Carnap's logical positivist thought.

2. Research methods used

This dissertation is based on the perspectives of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, and the Marxist-Leninist theory of philosophy.

The dissertation applies the dialectical materialism methodology, primarily employing methods such as: moving from abstract to concrete, logical-historical unity, induction, deduction, comparison, analysis, and synthesis.

3. Main results and conclusions

3.1. Main results

- The dissertation has contributed to summarizing the research situation on the philosophical thought of R. Carnap.

- The thesis has systematized and analyzed the basic contents of R. Carnap's logical positivist thought on the logical syntax of language, semantics, probability, and inductive logic.

- The thesis has demonstrated the significance of R. Carnap's logical positivist thought for human cognitive activity.

In theoryThis dissertation contributes to the systematic study of the fundamental contents of R. Carnap's logical positivist thought – a topic not widely addressed in philosophical research in general and logic research in particular in Vietnam. From this, the dissertation highlights the significance of these contents for human cognitive activity.

In practical termsThis dissertation can be used as a reference for research and teaching of modern Western logic and philosophy in general, the history of logic and logical positivism in particular, issues of modern logic, linguistic logic analysis, etc.

3.2. Conclusion

- R. Carnap's logical positivism emerged in the context of significant changes in Western society, particularly the development of industrial society and the demands for economic growth and improved quality of life, which led to the development of science in a "positivist" direction. Faced with this reality, based on inheriting and selectively absorbing the views of previous philosophers, Carnap laid the first bricks for logical positivism – the highest form of positivism.

- The first project that R. Carnap undertook was the logical syntax of the language. He developed aformal syntaxThe aim is to clarify the content conveyed through language and to "purify" philosophy from false issues such as metaphysics, or from issues unrelated to philosophy such as psychological questions that belong to the field of natural science.

- At the end of the syntactic research phase, R. Carnap developed the semantic system and the logical semantic system, along with the method of intension and extension, as the main tools used in the semantic analysis of this system. From semantics, Carnap further clarified the concept oflogical truth– a kind of truth that exists only within the semantic system without reference to objects outside the language.

- The final stage of R. Carnap's career was his research into probability and inductive logic. During this period, Carnap continued to make significant contributions to clarifying the conceptual meaning.logical probabilitySimultaneously, a complete inductive system is being developed in which this concept holds a central position.

- Studying R. Carnap's logical positivist thought is not only of great theoretical significance to philosophy and logic, but also provides human thinking with sharp insights and great potential for practical application.

                                                              SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS

The author's name: Pham Minh Hoang

Thesis title:Logical positivist thoughts of R. Carnap

Scientific branch of the thesis: Philosophy

Major: Dialectical materialism and historical materialism

Code: 62.22.03.02

The name of postgraduate training institution: University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi

1. Thesis purpose and objectives

Thesis purpose: The thesis clarifies the content of logical positivist thoughts of R. Carnap.

Thesis objectives: logical positivist thoughts of R. Carnap.

2. Research methods

The thesis is based on the points of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, Marxist - Leninistic philosophy.

The thesis applies materialism methodology, which mainly uses methods: from abstract to specific, logical unity - history, inductive, interpreting, comparing, analyzing, summing.

3. Major results and conclusions

3.1. The major results

- The thesis has contributed to summarizing the research situation of philosophical thoughts of R. Carnap

- The thesis has systematized and analyzed the basic contents of R. Carnap's logical positivist thoughts on the logical syntax of language, semantics, probability and inductive logic.

- The thesis has pointed out the meaning in R. Carnap's logical positivist thoughts for human cognitive activities.

Theoretical, the thesis contributes to scientifically studying the basic contents of R. Carnap's logical positivist thinking - an issue that has not been mentioned much in the philosophical research works in general and logic particularly in Vietnam. Since then, the thesis raises the meaning of the above content to human cognitive activities.

In practical terms, the thesis can be used as a reference for the study, teaching of logic and modern Western philosophy in general, the history of logic and logical positivism in particular, problems of modern logic, linguistic logic analysis ...

3.2.Revisions

- The logical positivist thoughts of R. Carnap was born in the context of dramatic changes in Western society, especially the development of industrial society, the requirements of economic growth and improvement of the quality of human life have led the sciences to develop in a "positivist" trend. In this context, based on the inherited, selective acquisition of the views of the previous philosophers, Carnap laid the first bricks for logical positivism - the highest form of realism.

- The first project that R. Carnap implemented was the logical syntax of language. He formulated a formal syntax to correct the content transmitted through language and aim to "purify" philosophy from pseudo-problems such as metaphysics, or from non-metaphysical problems such as questions of psychology that belong to the field of study of natural sciences.

- At the end of the syntactic research phase, R. Carnap built the semantic system and the logical semantic system along with the external inner function with the function as the main tool used in the process of semantic analysis of this system. From semantics, Carnap has more clearly shaped the logical truth - a kind of truth that exists only in the semantic system without reference to non-linguistic objects.

- The final stage in R. Carnap's career was the stage he studied on probability and inductive logic. During this period, Carnap continued to make major contributions to the clarification of theconcept of logical probabilityand the construction of a complete inductive system in which this concept remains central.

- The study of logical positivist thoughts of R. Carnap is not only of great theoretical significance for philosophy and logic but also provides the human thinking activity with sharp activities, which contains many potential to apply in practice.