The problem of implicit definitions

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23925/2316-5278.2026v27i1:e74779

Keywords:

Implicit definitions, Neo-Kantianism, Rudolf Carnap, Vienna Circle

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show that, despite the recent revisions of the Neo-Kantian view of Carnap’s Der logische Aufbau der Welt (1928), several topics of this work address and try to answer problems born and discussed in the Neo-Kantian tradition. In particular, we will argue that the development of a new formal way of constructing and defining concepts for the empirical sciences – the explicit definitions of a strictly structural character – is motivated by Cassirer’s positions in Substanzbegriff und Funktionsbegriff (1910). 

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Author Biographies

Diogo Henrique Bispo Dias, Universidade Estadual do Norte do Paraná

Possui graduação e Mestrado em Filosofia pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, e doutorado em Filosofia pela Universidade de São Paulo - USP. É membro dos grupos de Pesquisa CNPq 'Lógica no Avião' e 'Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisa em Filosofia, Educação e Sociedade (GEPFES)'. Tem experiência na área de Filosofia, com ênfase em Lógica, Filosofia da Matemática, Filosofia da Linguagem e Filosofia do Círculo de Viena. É Professor Adjunto de Lógica e Filosofia da Linguagem na Universidade Estadual do Norte do Paraná - UENP

Lucas Baccarat Silva Negrão de Campos, University of Geneva

Lucas Baccarat is a PhD candidate at the University of Geneva working on the project The Crisis of Philosophy in the 1930s. He holds BAs in Philosophy and Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and obtained his Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of São Paulo. Before joining the University of Geneva, he collaborated on the FWF projects Context III: “Practical” Philosophy in the US and Neurath’s Nachlass Edition, both hosted by the Institute Vienna Circle. His current research focuses on the reception of Empiriocriticism in Logical Empiricism and its role in the development of Physicalism.

References

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Published

2026-07-16

How to Cite

Dias, D. H. B., & de Campos, L. B. S. N. (2026). The problem of implicit definitions. Cognitio: Revista De Filosofia, 27(1), e74779. https://doi.org/10.23925/2316-5278.2026v27i1:e74779

Issue

Vol. 27 No. 1 (2026): Cognitio: Revista de Filosofia

Section

Cognitio-Studies Papers

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