\brief{W.V.O. Quine an Rudolf Carnap, 12. März 1934}{März 1934}

%Kopie

%65 Mt. Auburn Street

%Cambridge, Mass. USA

%d. 12. März. 1934

\anrede{Lieber Herr \textit{Carnap}!}

\haupttext{Die ungünstige Nachricht betreffs des Stipendiums hat uns sehr leid getan. Hoffentlich werden Sie aber stattdessen
etwas noch besseres erhalten. Es ist sehr gut, daß Sie an Lewis\IN{\lewis} geschrieben haben.

\replsp{Wann}{Als} ich Ihren letzteren Brief bekam, ging ich gerade \replsp{an}{zu} Whitehead\IN{\whitehead}, um ihm vertraulich mitzuteilen, daß Sie eine
zeitliche oder beständige Professur in Amerika gern annehmen würden. (Er hatte mir seine hohe Achtung für Ihre Arbeit
schon früher erwähnt.) Er war sehr interessiert und schlug vor, daß ich sofort einen Brief an Langford\IN{\langford} (University of
Michigan\II{\universitymichigan}) schreibe und seinen (Whitehead's)\IN{\whitehead} Name anwende. Gestern schrieb ich also an Langford\IN{\langford} einen höchst behutsamen
Brief, der hoffentlich irgendeinen Erfolg gewähren wird.

John Cooley\IN{\cooley} kennt Northrop\IN{\northrop} (Yale\II{\yale}) und wird ihm auch die Sache diplomatisch \replsp{erheben}{nahelegen, fragen (ihm nahelegen oder: ihn in dieser Sache fragen)}.

Heute habe ich mit Lewis\IN{\lewis} gesprochen. Der ökonomischen Lage wegen gibt es natürlich fast keine freie Stellen im ganzen
Lande; nichtsdestoweniger schien Lewis\IN{\lewis} hoffnungsvoll zu sein, denn es muß Ihres Ruhmes und der Wichtigkeit Ihrer Arbeit
wegen jedenfalls in irgendeiner guten \replsp{A}{a}merikanischen Universität eine Stelle
geben. Er fragte\soutsp{te} \replsp{mir}{mich} nach Ihrem English, worüber ich ihn \replsp{ruhig machte}{beruhigte}. Er hat versprochen, einige Briefe dahinzuschicken, wo sie die besten Erfolge liefern sollen. Von
Whitehead\IN{\whitehead} und auch Lewis\IN{\lewis} wurde die Idee einer Stellung an Harvard überhaupt nicht erwähnt, daraus dürfen Sie aber nichts
ableiten, da so ein \replsp{Begriff}{Idee, Plan} \textsp{wahr}scheinlich \textsp{oder: scheinbar} etwas nicht vorauszuerwähnendes
ist.

Naomi\IN{\quinefrau} hat mich plötzlich unterbrochen, um vorzuschlagen, daß ich englisch schreibe, damit Sie Übung bekommen. Ihr
Englisch wird zu einem näheren praktischen Zweck gefordert,
als mein Deutsch.

I am glad your book\IC{\logischesyntax} is with the printer, and am very eager to see it

\begin{center}\textkritik{[ENDE DER KOPIE]}\fnE{msl.} \neueseite{}\end{center}

in its final form\fnAmargin{hsl. \original{page 1 to be returned by Carnap}} -- as also are many of my associates,
to whom I have expressed my enthusiasm for the book\IC{\logischesyntax}.

Thank you for the offprint from \uline{Philosophy of Science}\II{\philosophyofscience}. I had read your article\IC{\problemederphilosophieaufsatz} earlier in the library, but was
very glad to have a copy of my own. I thought the article\IC{\problemederphilosophieaufsatz} an effective and elegant summary of your doctrine of philosophy
as grammar. I did not think Malisoff's\IN{\malisoff} translation altogether unexceptionable, however -- for example, wouldn't your use
of ``inhaltlich'' be best translated as ``material'', the usual English correlative of ``formal''? I suggest that as
relevant to the projected translation of your book\IC{\logischesyntaxenglisch}.

I am greatly impressed by the new quarterly\II{\philosophyofscience} -- both by the imposing array of editors and contributors and by the quality
of its make-up and typography. The journal\II{\philosophyofscience} fulfills an urgent need. It is the first good philosophy periodical published
in this country. (The \uline{Monist}\II{\monist} and the \uline{Journal of Philosophy}\II{} are miserable rags, as you know.)

Last week, finally, I finished the thoroughgoing rewriting of my book\IW{\quinebuch} and put it into the hands of the printer (Harvard
University Press\II{\harvardpress}). Beyond the gain in generality afforded by the suppression of individuals in favor of sequences, the
system has almost nothing in common with the form in which I sketched it to you in Prague. The system is now much
simpler, and at the same time a much more radical departure from tradition, than it was in the earlier form. The book\IW{\quinebuch}
will have about 225 pages. Whitehead\IN{\whitehead} is writing a short preface for it. Since the book\IW{\quinebuch} could not appear before June in
any case, the publishers will probably hold it until September, since they deem that the best season for the marketing of
an academic work.

I am glad to hear of the steps toward an English translation of your \uline{Logische Syntax}\IC{\logischesyntaxenglisch}, and of the projected
translation of the \uline{Die physikalische Sprache usw}\IC{}. I am slightly acquainted with the Psyche Miniatures\II{\psycheminiatures},
and in fact have just now read Richards'\IN{\richards} \uline{Basic Rules of Reason}\IW{}, in Basic English. I am very much pleased with
Basic English; it is an ingenious practical simplification, and not without a certain logical interest as \neueseite{} well. For the
most part Richards'\IN{\richards} little book\IW{} resounds very naturally upon the orthodox English ear. The simplicity of vocabulary is
aesthetically good, and conducive moreover to greater clarity by virtue of its greater Eindeutigkeit (we have no usual
English word for this; the nearest is ``univocal''). In using Basic English as an approach to standard English it must
nevertheless be kept in mind that some of the Basic locutions are inadmissible in the regular language -- \uline{e.\,g}.
``take a look at'', excessive use of ``get'', et al. But Basic English is always thoroughly intelligible, and the bulk of
it is idiomatically orthodox as well.

I am acquainted with \uline{The Meaning of Meaning}\IW{}. It is an entertaining book, and says much that is sound and
important, but, as you have remarked, it makes no pretense of subtle analysis.

I have recently discovered John Horne Tooke\IN{}: \textgreek{EPEA PTEROENTA}\IW{}, \uline{or The Diversions of Purley}\IW{} (late 18th
century). It is both a highly amusing and an enlightening work, and one which I recommend to you if you have not seen it.
Tooke\IN{} writes that Locke's\IN{\locke} \uline{Essay}\IW{} is properly construed if for every occurrence of the word ``idea'' therein we
substitute the word ``word''. Tooke\IN{} is a philologist and a philosopher; as a philosopher he practically, but not quite
explicitly, subscribes to your doctrine that philosophy is grammar. On the other hand he na\"{\i}vely seeks to establish
his doctrines by philological data; insofar as he does this he is of course a natural scientist, specifically an
anthropologist, rather than a logician or grammarian. The book\IW{} is a delight to read, especially the leisurely
18th-century vein of ridicule with which he fills his copious footnote-references to his contemporaries.

The three-year appointment which I am now enjoying is an ideal arrangement. My annual salary is \$ 2250, I am given full
library and lecture-attendance privileges, and I have no duties whatever; full time for research in any form I may
choose. We must provide our own lodgings, but I am allowed all the meals I please in the university dining halls with\neueseite{}out
cost. This is a convenience for me most noons and such other times as Naomi\IN{\quinefrau} may have other plans. Unmarried appointees
are provided with lodgings, but their stipend is reduced correspondingly.

The Society of Fellows (the group under consideration) has a suite of rooms, where we have one luncheon and one dinner
together a week. The weekly dinner is followed by conversation which lasts till about midnight. It is always interesting
and stimulating, for besides us six appointees (upper age limit of appointment 28) there are the so-called Senior
Fellows, or sponsors, comprising seven more or less distinguished scholars, among them Whitehead\IN{\whitehead}. The six junior
appointees will be added to each year until there is a total of 24, which will then be kept about constant; the Senior
Fellows on the other hand will remain seven. This is the first year of the project; six to ten more young men are now
being selected, from applicants all over the country, to join us next year. The object of the foundation is opportunity
for three years of unhindered productive research or preparation. It is part of the policy that no credit toward degrees
is allowed for work produced or courses attended during incumbency; this is of course irrelevant to the two of us who
already have our doctorates.

The fall of the dollar has resulted in only a slight rise in prices. Rents in Cambridge, however, have always been high.
A suite of several furnished rooms would cost you about \$ 45 a month as a minimum, with gas, electricity, water and heat
included. An unfurnished apartment (= ``flat'', in Engld.) of an acceptable kind might be had for \$ 30, and gas and
electricity would cost about \$ 3 a month additional. If you furnished such a place very simply and cautiously from
second-hand stores, with our help -- the procedure which we adopted two years ago -- you could probably pass a year more
cheaply than in furnished rooms, and you would have the added privacy of a separate entrance, whereof one usually cannot
be assured in furnished lodgings. \$ 25 a month would be ample for meals, prepared at home.

But such information is hardly relevant now that you are planning for a teaching position rather than a Rockefeller\II{\rockefellerstiftung}
Fellowship. Your income will \neueseite{} be far greater with the former than with the latter, and you will have less reason to worry
over expenses than we now have. Note incidentally that if you should be at some university other than Harvard\II{\harvard} your rent
will be much less -- at some places little more than half as much.

In any case of course we are looking forward to the pleasure of accompanying you in the search for lodgings and
furniture -- unless you should happen to be called to some such distant point as Iowa, Texas or California. Our hope is
of course that you will be with us here at Harvard\II{\harvard}.

Many thanks for the two photographs. We were very happy to get them, and they are excellent pictures.

To return to the question of living expenses, I might mention that on my salary-- which is certainly less than you will
receive -- we have been living in an attractive, light and centrally situated apartment with two large rooms plus
bedroom, bathroom, hall and tiny kitchen. We have furnished the apartment completely with new and attractive furniture,
which we shall have finished paying for in two more months. The furniture is all of first quality, but slowly and
cautiously purchased -- so slowly in fact that we were sleeping on the floor and I was using a board for a desk for a few
weeks last September! But don't let me alarm you; the caution was necessary merely in order to acquire our permanent
furniture all at one time and at lowest prices.

With heartiest greetings to you both\IN{\ina}, also from Naomi\IN{\quinefrau},}

\grussformel{Sincerely yours,\\{} 
[Willard V. Quine]}

\ebericht{Brief, msl., 5 Seiten, \href{https://doi.org/10.48666/854806}{WQ}; Briefkopf: msl. \original{65 Mt. Auburn Street \,/\, Cambridge, Mass. USA \,/\, d. 12.\,März. 1934}, hsl. \original{Kopie}.}
