https://jhaponline.org/jhap <p>JHAP aims to promote research in and discussion of the history of analytical philosophy. <a href="/jhap/about">Read more ...</a></p> McMaster University en-US Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 2159-0303 <p>The Public Knowledge Project recommends the use of the Creative Commons license. The Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy requires authors to agree to a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution /Non-commercial license</a>. Authors who publish with the Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy agree to the following terms:</p> <ol> <li class="show">Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">Creative Commons BY-NC license</a>.</li> <li class="show">Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.</li> <li class="show">Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access)</li> </ol> <p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/" rel="license"><img style="border-width: 0;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License"></a><br>This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License</a>.</p> https://jhaponline.org/jhap/article/view/5752 <p>Scientific humanism is the formula by which Rudolf Carnap positions science as the best tool for improving life. Science allows us to maximize the rational character of human decisions on the basis of meta-values that include epistemic values and values for rational decision making. These values are politically neutral in that they are not tied to any partisan political position, but deeply political because they allow us to avoid irrational reasoning and to make the right use of science for our political and moral decisions. Maximizing rationality does not mean, for Carnap, that we must think and calculate before every action. Rather, the overall noncognitive character of values and decisions leads to a decisionist momentum, which means that we must find the right balance, both personally and politically, between sharp thinking and following our attitudes, because science is a signpost, not a leader, in life. Carnap’s views are rooted in the intellectual currents of early twentieth-century Central Europe, including Max Weber’s scientific value-neutrality, the German Life Reform and Youth Movement, <em>Lebensphilosophie</em>, the decisionism of the 1920s, and the empiriocriticist branch of Austrian social democracy.</p> Christian Damboeck Copyright (c) 2025 Christian Damboeck 2025-02-12 2025-02-12 13 3 10.15173/jhap.v13i3.5752