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Carnap’s Non-cognitivism and His Views on Religion, Against the Background of the Herbartian Philosophy of His Grandfather Friedrich Wilhelm Dörpfeld

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The Vienna Circle and Religion

Part of the book series: Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook ((VCIY,volume 25))

Abstract

The pedagogue Friedrich Wilhelm Dörpfeld, Rudolf Carnap’s grandfather, developed an interesting account of the relationship between science, religion, and ethics, which belongs to the tradition of Herbart and can be seen as a typical product of empirically minded philosophy in nineteenth-century Germany. This paper examines Dörpfeld’s philosophical views and compares them with Carnap’s non-cognitivism and his views on religion. It turns out that Carnap’s non-cognitivism can be seen as a secularized version of Dörpfeld’s views, while Carnap’s views on religion are obviously inspired by the enlightened Protestantism of his grandfather. These are the acknowledgements that should be shifted to the beginning of the essay (e.g. as a footnote to the title).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See (Carus 2021a, b) as well as the appendix of the forthcoming volume (Damböck et al. 2021) which will contain two early texts on religious matters by Carnap, together with an introduction by A.W. Carus.

  2. 2.

    See (Heidelberger forthcoming) which provides a comprehensive analysis of Dörpfeld’s philosophical background.

  3. 3.

    In the following I quote from the Rudolf Carnap Papers at the Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh, always using the format “RC XXX-XX-XX, page number” The present document is RC 091-18-02, 3. „Erste Erkenntnis: Unterscheidung von kirchlich und religiös; aber: auch die aufrichtig kirchlich[en] nicht alle religiös; ich stelle 2 Typen auf: rel[igiöse] und irrel[igiöse] Veranlagung, letzteres nicht als Fehler (Beispiel: klass[ischer] Mensch, Goethe, viele heutige Menschen (ich)); Ausdruck ‚Religiosität‘ soll aufgespart werden für anderen Typ (gotischer Mensch, viell[eicht] Ägypter […])“

  4. 4.

    RC 081-47-01. „Im Sommer war ich einige Monate in Jena; Pfingsten mit Flitner, Räubers und Rugard von Rohden bei Baußnerns im Pfiffelbacher Pfarrhaus. Bei unsern Gesprächen über Christentum und Kirche wurde mir meine Skepsis über das, was von der Kirche Segensreiches für unsre Zeit zu erwarten sei, zu solcher Klarheit, daß ich ihr den Rücken wandte.“

  5. 5.

    This I learned from a remark by Hans-Joachim Dahms to this manuscript.

  6. 6.

    Young Research Library, University of California at Los Angeles, Special Collections Department, Manuscript Collection No. 1029, Rudolf Carnap Papers, Box 2, CM3, M-A5, p. A7

  7. 7.

    Young Research Library, University of California at Los Angeles, Special Collections Department, Manuscript Collection No. 1029, Rudolf Carnap Papers, Box 2, CM3, M-A5, p. A3.

  8. 8.

    Young Research Library, University of California at Los Angeles, Special Collections Department, Manuscript Collection No. 1029, Rudolf Carnap Papers, Box 2, CM3, M-A5, pp. A8-A15.

  9. 9.

    Young Research Library, University of California at Los Angeles, Special Collections Department, Manuscript Collection No. 1029, Rudolf Carnap Papers, Box 2, CM3, M-A5, p. A11.

  10. 10.

    See RC 025, several folders, as well as (Carnap 2021a, b).

  11. 11.

    Carnap requested a copy of Dörpfeld’s Ethics in a letter to his mother from February 20, 1920 (RC 025-85-32). From the formulation it becomes likely that Carnap already knew the book at this stage. Acquaintance with his mother’s biography of the grandfather is documented at several places of the Nachlass, with the inclusion of the before-quoted passages of the unabbreviated autobiography and the correspondence.

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Acknowledgements

For comments on an earlier version of this paper I am grateful to Hans-Joachim Dahms, GüntherSandner, and Anne Siegetsleitner. Regarding the general way of sensing Carnap’s early intellectual sphere, I owe very much to discussions withMichael Heidelberger, A.W. Carus and, especially, Meike Werner. I apologize for the poor linguistic quality of the text.

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    Christian Damböck

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    Esther Ramharter

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Damböck, C. (2022). Carnap’s Non-cognitivism and His Views on Religion, Against the Background of the Herbartian Philosophy of His Grandfather Friedrich Wilhelm Dörpfeld. In: Ramharter, E. (eds) The Vienna Circle and Religion. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76151-6_2

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