PAP, ARTHUR

PAP, ARTHUR (1921–1959), philosopher. Born and brought up in Zurich, where his father was a successful businessman, he moved to New York in 1941. He taught at the University of Chicago, where he was greatly influenced by Rudolf Carnap, one of the founders of the Vienna school of Logical Positivism. Pap assumed a teaching position at Yale University in the mid-1950s. Considered one of the ablest philosophers of his generation, Pap developed a modified, flexible type of logical positivism. The flexible approach that characterized his work is clearly seen in his five books and numerous articles, particularly in Semantics and Necessary Truth (1958), which is perhaps the most careful and meticulous inquiry into the notion of necessary proof. His Elements of Analytic Philosophy (1949) and An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (1962) reflect his desire to make science philosophically accurate in its formulations and to make philosophy scientific in its approach. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: New York Times (Sept. 8, 1959), 35.