ABSTRACT

Carnap's famous demonstration of the "nonsensical" character of certain sentences from Heidegger's Was ist Metaphysik? has generally not been read as a serious engagement with or criticism of Heidegger's thought, I argue to the contrary. I show, first, that Heidegger and Carnap are both reacting against the same features of Husserl's system, for the same reasons, and, second, that Carnap understood this. I conclude that Carnap is criticizing Heidegger for carrying out their common project incorrectly.