Abstract

My analysis suggests that Rickert had a significant influence on Carnap’s Aufbau project. Moreover, I argue that Rickert’s influence was a persistent element of Carnap’s longstanding view that “constructing” new conceptual systems intends to impose new norms. Carnap first expressed this standpoint in “Vom Chaos zur Wirklichkeit” (1922), which reflects a substantial influence of Rickert and his System der Philosophie (1921). I suggest that in “Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology” (1950), Carnap essentially re-expressed his originally Rickertian-influenced standpoint that conceptual systems result from imposing norms. The snake bit its tail as Carnap proposed that “linguistic frameworks” fall out of the “procedure” of “construction” that consists of establishing “new rules”.