Abstract

This essay is concerned with the development of some features of the philosophy of Georg Henrik von Wright in relation with the influence that Carnap and Wittgenstein had on it. Carnap and Wittgenstein hold different positions on many philosophical topics and even on the very ideas of philosophy and logic. The essay aims to show how this philosophical contrast is reflected in von Wright's own philosophy and to investigate whether it may create any troubles. It starts considering how von Wright's attempt to defend Wittgenstein's notion of tautology is very much built on a Carnapian framework. It goes on focusing attention on the problem of modal concepts, in order to show the inner "tension" between Carnap and Wittgenstein in von Wright's philosophy of necessity and possibility.