Andreas Frenzel

PhD project

My dissertation project is entitled "Language and Reasoning: Carnapian Frameworks and the Capabilities of Formal Systems". It consists of two parts. In the first part, the prelude, I conduct a metatheoretical study of the notion of a formal language. In this part, I will look at several notions relating to metasemantics, conceptual engineering, Carnapian linguistic frameworks, and issues of logic, in order to ascertain what can and cannot be done in a formal language. In the second and main part, I will conduct a series of case studies by explicitly constructing fragments of formal languages, in order to investigate how useful they are for representing and solving various philosophical problems, according to the particular goals that are pursued in each case. My dissertation will result in a clearer understanding of the uses of formal languages for philosophy.