The Bipartite Metatheory Conception of Philosophy

The bipartite metatheory thesis attributes to Carnap, Frank, and Neurath a conception of philosophy of science as a strictly second-order inquiry in which the purely formal-logical analyses of the logic of science are complemented by empirical inquiries into the psychology, sociology, and history of science, i.e., the pragmatics of science. This chapter considers the thesis, the evidence for it, and some of the consequences that follow from it. It shows that a remarkable metaphilosophical agreement is discernable behind some of the disagreements among the members of the so-called left wind of the Vienna Circle which distinguish it from the Wittgensteinian wing around Schlick and Waismann.