Abstract

It is a shame that this volume which was started a decade ago should have been so long in preparation. The result is that many of the critical papers have been superseded by more recent investigations. Nevertheless, there are a number of respects in which this is an extremely valuable book. It contains Carnap's autobiography, written in the direct and careful style that is so characteristic of his work. Carnap also patiently and systematically answers the objections raised by his critics. And there is an invaluable annotated bibliography of his writings. But the dominant impression of the volume as a whole is that of summing up the contribution and limitations of one of the twentieth-century's most important and influential philosophers.—R. J. B.