Dear all, our next speaker in the Philosophy of Science Colloquium organized by the Institute Vienna Circle is Caterina del Sorda (IVC Fellow), who will give a talk on January 16, 4.45-6.15 pm. All are welcome! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philosophy of Science Colloquium TALK: Caterina del Sordo (IVC Fellow) QUASI-ANALYSIS VS. EXPLICATION. THE EARLY CARNAP ON CONCEPTUAL ENGINEERING Philosophy of Science Colloquium The Institute Vienna Circle holds a Philosophy of Science Colloquium with talks by our present fellows. Date:16/01/2025 Time: 16h45 Venue: New Institute Building (NIG), Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien, HS 2G Abstract: This paper calls into question the thesis that early Carnap's rational reconstruction arises as a proto-version of his later and more mature idea of explication. The aim of the paper is to show that (1) according to the criteria of similarity, exactness, and fruitfulness, rational reconstruction qualifies as an explication, and that (2) according to their explanatory preconditions, rational reconstruction and explication emerge as processes of conceptual generalization and specification, respectively. To support (1), I consider rational reconstruction, in terms of early Carnap's quasi-analysis, as a representational theory of mathematical structures; to support (2), I rely on formal concept analysis as a common framework for comparing conceptual constructions.