Feasibility Study for Carnap Collected Works

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SES 00-86581 - Richard Creath (Arizona State University)"Feasibility Study for 'Carnap Collected Works'"Something odd has happened recently in the world of philosophy of science. Just as it seemed that the work of Rudolf Carnap and other logical empiricists was being rescued from near oblivion, the most important and illuminating of Carnap's publications have largely gone out of print. Carnap was an enormously influential mid-twentieth century philosopher of science and logician. Although his work had gone out of fashion by the 1970s, its historical and substantive importance was being recognized anew -- slowly in the 1980s and more strongly in the 90s. Oddly, at the same time virtually all of his major works were going out of print. Thus, they are now unavailable for classroom use, unavailable for younger scholars, and often unavailable in any form (including electronic form) even in research libraries. To remedy this situation Carnap scholars have proposed the publication of a "Carnap Collected Works," to include first all of the published material and second the most important parts of the unpublished work. Until now this goal had seemed impossible. The Carnap family's agent had seemed uncooperative, the copyrights were uncertain, presses were unwilling, and no one was eager to fight all this to undertake the editing of at least 12 to 15 volumes. Within the last year (and in some respects within the last weeks) the situation has changed. The literary advisor to the Carnap family died, and the PI has taken on that role. Many, but not all, of the copyrights have been clarified. A major press has agreed in principle to undertake publication in whatever form or forms seems most appropriate. A small group of prominent scholars has agreed in principle to serve as an editorial board. And the PI has agreed, again in principle, to serve as the general editor. None of this will happen unless feasibility plans (scope, timetable, and budget) for the project can be developed fairly quickly. For this purpose we must explore existing models for collected works projects including, for example, the Goedel papers, the Peirce papers, and the electronic Edison edition. As this short list of examples suggests, we will also explore electronic and web-based publication in order to see what sort of publication makes the most sense. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research supports this exploratory study, designed to lead to a publication plan for the "Carnap Collected Works."