Pap Lecture (Institute Vienna Circle, University of Vienna, Austria): Kinds of A Priori

Thursday, June 12, 2025

10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Pap Lecture (Institute Vienna Circle, University of Vienna, Austria): Kinds of A Priori – In 1944, Arthur Pap analyzed different kinds of “a priori” beyond the scientific statements that served as the standard reference for the logical empiricist criticism of the Kantian model. His analysis focuses on the meanings of formal, material, and functional a priori, engaging primarily with the arguments of Aristotle, Kant, Schlick, Wittgenstein, Dewey, and Carnap. In this context, Pap advocates for the reducibility of Kant’s synthetic a priori to the material a priori, while also arguing for the consistency of the latter with the functional meaning of the a priori. Oliva’s talk will center on the first two meanings. It will specifically analyze Pap’s views on Kant’s synthetic-analytic distinction, Leibniz’s notion of true sentences as identities (which relates to Wittgenstein’s notion of tautology), and Hilbert’s notion of implicit definitions - adopted by Schlick and defended by Einstein. Oliva will also consider Pap’s later writings from 1949 and 1957 and assess the claims concerning analyticity, necessity, and material implication they developed.

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