Guides: Leibniz As Cryptographer, Spring 2013 @ Archives &amp; Special Collections: ASP Collections

Links to Online Finding Aids for collections in the ASP

Rudolf Carnap Collection
Rudolf Carnap made substantial contributions in the areas of constructional theories, physicalism, the epistemological foundations of physics and mathematics, the syntactical structure of language, semantics, modal logic, and probability theory. Throughout his career he stressed the importance of formal analysis as the key to solving philosophical problems. His papers include extensive correspondence covering his entire life and career, lecture outlines for courses that he taught in Vienna, Prague, and the U.S.; and manuscript drafts and typescripts both for his published works and for many unpublished writings. Digital reproductions of portions of the collection are available electronically within the finding aid.
Hans Reichenbach Collection
The literary estate of Hans Reichenbach, located in the Special Collections Department of the University of Pittsburgh Library System, includes Reichenbach’s library, published and unpublished manuscripts, lectures, correspondence, and miscellaneous materials. Reichenbach made lasting contributions to the analysis of probabilistic reasoning; logic and the philosophy of mathematics; quantum mechanics; and space, time, and relativity theory. Through his career he was concerned with elaborating a cogent and consistent empiricism based on a theory of probability.
Carl Gustav Hempel Collection
Carl Gustav Hempel was a philosopher of science who played a central role in the development of logical positivism. His work is primarily associated with the concept of deductive-nomological explanation and with the Raven paradox. The papers include biographical material, correspondence, research and lecture manuscripts, teaching documents, and offprints by him and others, mostly stemming from his post-immigration period in the U.S. Digital reproductions of portions of the collection are available electronically within the finding aid.
Frank Ramsey Collection
This is a collection of autograph manuscripts documenting the philosophical work of Frank Plumpton Ramsey between the years 1920 and 1930. F.P. Ramsey was one of the most important British analytic philosophers of the twentieth century. During his career he worked in the areas of philosophy of mathematics, symbolic logic, epistemology, economics, and probability theory. The collection contains drafts of Ramsey's papers, including drafts of two of the most important and influential of Ramsey's works, The Foundations of Mathematics and On a Problem of Formal Logic. There are notes on the Tractatus of L. Wittgenstein. There are also papers, notes, and drafts of works on topics in philosophy of mathematics, formal logic, economics, and political theory. Some of Ramsey's undergraduate essays are also found in the collection. Digital reproductions of the entirety of the Frank Plumpton Ramsey Papers are available online.
Wilfrid Sellars Collection
Wilfrid S. Sellars was an American philosopher who made significant contributions to Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, and many other areas within philosophy. He was particularly noted for his contributions to Metaphysics and to Philosophy of Mind. The collection consists of manuscripts of nearly all of Sellars’ work (including autograph manuscripts of many these texts), reading notes, preliminary notes for further development, drafts of articles, working papers, correspondence, teaching materials and lecture notes. The correspondence includes exchanges with many of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century. There are also Ph.D. theses for students supervised by Sellars, personal correspondence, and drafts and typescripts for materials written by other philosophers. Materials from the work of Roy Wood Sellars can also be found here. Digital reproductions of portions of the collection are available electronically within the finding aid.
Wesley Salmon Collection
Wesley C. Salmon was an historian and philosopher of science who made major contributions to current ideas of scientific explanation, causation, and the nature of induction and probability among other areas of philosophy of science. Salmon was a professor at several major institutions including Indiana University, the University of Arizona and the University of Pittsburgh. The materials in his collection include personal and professional correspondence, manuscripts, working papers, lecture notes and their ancillary materials, versions of professional talks, and documentation from his work in professional organizations. There are also documents relating to his role in academic administration. Further, there are teaching materials and memorabilia. Digital reproductions of portions of the collection are available electronically within the finding aid.
Abner Shimony Collection
Abner Shimony, an American philosopher of science and physicist, focused much of his work in both philosophy of science and in physics on the interaction between quantum mechanics and relativity theory. He has done substantial research on complemantarity in multiparticle quantum interferometry and in quantum entanglement. He has written books and research articles on the foundations of quantum mechanics. For his work in Philosophy of Science, he was awarded the 1996 Lakatos Prize. Digital reproductions of portions of the collection are available electronically within the finding aid.

Archives of Scientific Philosophy

Philosophy has always been influenced by scientific work, and its deliberations have frequently followed scientific models. In recent decades the University of Pittsburgh has established itself as a leader in scientific philosophy, one of the twentieth century's most important intellectual currents. Furthermore, the University has committed itself to assembling archival resources for investigating the history of scientific philosophy. Known as the Archives of Scientific Philosophy (ASP), these holdings include, among others, the scholarly papers of Rudolf Carnap, Hans Reichenbach, Frank Plumpton Ramsey, and Willfrid Sellars. In addition, the Archives holds microfilm copies of the papers of Herbert Feigl (the originals being housed at the University of Minnesota). The Archives also includes microfilm copies of the manuscripts of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the Archives for the History of Quantum Physics. Most materials are housed in the Special Collections Department of the University's Hillman Library.

For more specific information on a particular collection, please follow the links listed below. They are highlighting each collection's scope, contents, organization, and usefulness to scholars from a variety of disciplines.

Guides and finding aids to the various collections are maintained in the Special Collections Department and are mostly searchable online here.

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

Leibniz As Cryptographer, Spring 2013 @ Archives & Special Collections: ASP Collections

Links to Online Finding Aids for collections in the ASP

Archives of Scientific Philosophy