Rudolf Carnap and Otto Neurath. Correspondence

The correspondence between Rudolf Carnap and Otto Neurath is a key document in the history of logical empiricism and, alongside Rudolf Carnap`s diaries, the most important document on the debates and activities in the Vienna Circle and their impact on philosophy in Europe and the USA. The publication was first attempted at the end of the 1970s by Rainer Hegselmann and Marie Neurath, but this project was never completed. Following an initial edition of the letters from the 1940s by Adam Tuboly and Jordi Cat (2019), the editors are now presenting the first edition that covers all parts of the correspondence, especially the time in the Vienna Circle, in a selection. The edition will be published in the renowned series Philosophische Bibliothek by Meiner Verlag and simultaneously as a pdf in open access format, making it accessible to a broad academic public. The edition was created as part of the FWF projects P30377 (Johannes Friedl, University of Graz, 2017-2021) and P31716 (Christian Damböck, University of Vienna, 2018-2021) and was completed in the ongoing FWF project P34887 (Christian Damböck, University of Vienna, 2021-2025). When compiling the selection of letters, particular attention was paid to letters of philosophical- historical, systematic-philosophical and biographical importance. Letters whose content is of a purely organizational nature were omitted, whereas some important letters from the life partners Ina Carnap, Olga Hahn-Neurath and Marie Neurath were included. The atmospherically important drawings, mostly depicting elephants, which Neurath added to some of the letters, have also been included. A commentary section in the appendix explains passages that are difficult to access and provides references. A bibliography of all works cited by the authors of the letters and the editors, an index of persons with short biographies and a comprehensive introduction with biographical, philosophical-historical and editorial information round off the volume. This edition has been awaited by the community of researchers on logical empiricism and the Vienna Circle for decades and therefore represents an important desideratum and an undoubted innovation, as it is the first time that a key document on the history of logical empiricism has been presented as an edition. The editors Christian Damböck (University of Vienna), Johannes Friedl and Ulf Höfer (both University of Graz) are internationally renowned researchers on the history of the Vienna Circle and logical empiricism, with extensive experience in numerous editorial projects on Moritz Schlick, Otto Neurath and Rudolf Carnap.