Carnap, completeness, and categoricity: The Gabelbarkeitssatz of 1928 (Q5946331)

After publishing \textit{Der logische Aufbau der Welt} [Berlin-Schlachtensee, Weltkreis-Verlag (1928; JFM 54.0060.03)], \textit{R. Carnap}'s interest shifted to questions of logic and the foundations of mathematics. In 1929 he published the textbook \textit{Abriss der Logistik} [Wien, J. Springer (1929; JFM 55.0030.06)], and in 1930 a summary proof of what he called \textit{Gabelbarkeitssatz}, saying roughly that a consistent set of axioms is complete just if it is categorical. This not only sounds false, but raises further questions: What flaw in Carnap's conceptual framework enabled him to arrive at such a result? Why did the logicians to whom he showed it, among them Fraenkel, Zermelo and Gödel, not see what had gone wrong? Why did Carnap get interested in completeness and categoricity in the first place? The authors examine this work, showing that it provides important insights into Carnap's development during this critical period, especially regarding the nature and motivation of Carnap's logicism. It is shown how Carnap's work influenced his student Gödel in reaching the fundamental logical results that soon afterwards undermined Carnap's project.