The naturalization of meaning (Naturalizing Meaning)

Project manager: Christoph Limbeck-Lilienau

Duration: 01.05.2023 - 30.04.2024

Funded by: FWF (Austrian Science Fund)

Third-party funded project (§§ 26-28 UG) (ongoing)

 

Project description:

The project is dedicated to the question of how naturalistic and pragmatist tendencies in the analytical philosophy of the 1920s shaped the positions of the Vienna Circle. The central focus is the influence of Bertrand Russell's and Frank Ramsey's naturalistic and pragmatist conceptions of meaning, representation and propositions on the Vienna Circle.

In the central phase of the Vienna Circle around 1930, Wittgenstein's Tractatus and his representation theory of meaning were increasingly subjected to criticism. In Cambridge, Wittgenstein was in close contact with Ramsey, who had criticized key aspects of the Abbildtheorie early on. Wittgenstein also discussed the problems of his original theory with individual members of the Vienna Circle (Waismann, Schlick, Carnap). From 1930 onwards, the Vienna Circle increasingly sought a replacement for Wittgenstein's original theory of meaning. Since Carnap and Neurath represented a new form of naturalism, physicalism, naturalistic theories of meaning and representation also became attractive to these members of the circle. A central hypothesis of the project is that Russell's naturalistic conception of propositions (Russell 1919), his formulation of a causal theory of meaning (Russell 1921), Ramsey's pragmatist-influenced semantics of success (Ramsey 1927) and the causal theories of linguistic meaning formulated in behaviorism played an essential role in the formulation of new theories of meaning in the Vienna Circle around 1930. An important advantage of Russell's and Ramsey's theories was that they were compatible with the naturalism of the physicalists.

The project sets itself the task of demonstrating the role of Russell's and Ramsey's theories in the causal theories and usage theories of meaning developed by the logical empiricists. As part of the project, new archival sources will be opened up in order to reconstruct the discussions between Wittgenstein and Ramsey, Wittgenstein and Waismann and their influence on the members of the Vienna Circle. In particular, the role of Waismann as a mediator between the positions in Cambridge and Vienna, as well as his role as a source of inspiration for new theoretical approaches will be emphasized. In a first step, the project examines the arguments on the basis of which Wittgenstein's theory of representation was increasingly abandoned in the Vienna Circle towards the end of the 1920s. It then examines the options for a new theory of meaning discussed in the circle, in particular Neurath's and Carnap's considerations on a causal theory of meaning within the framework of physicalism, Waismann's preference for a theory of the use of meaning and for a linguistically reformulated theory of intentionality. This theoretical debate is placed in relation to current naturalistic theories of meaning and representation.