The Barcelona Institute of Analytic Philosophy (BIAP) was established in 2016 as an inter-university institute dedicated to bringing together analytic philosophers from the University of Barcelona, University of Girona, and the Pompeu Fabra University, to strengthen our existing collaborations in teaching and research, and to promote and improve the practice of analytic philosophy in Catalunya.
What is analytic philosophy? Historically rooted in the work of early 20th-century figures such as Russell, Frege, Carnap and Reichenbach, analytic philosophy is a departure from traditional “big-system” philosophising of the kind practiced by the giants of history of philosophy, such as Kant and Hegel, or Leibniz and Spinoza. Analytic philosophers approach smaller-scale, well-defined questions and attempt to provide answers based on rigorous analysis and argumentation. We strive for clarity of thought and clarity of expression. And we see our work as on a continuum with — and strongly connected with — the work of scholars in other fields, including the legal realm and all the natural and social sciences.
Analytic philosophers care deeply about cultivating beliefs that are reasonable, rational and well-supported. Our María de Maeztu supported research will therefore be a wide-ranging exploration of the notion of evidence and its many manifestations in analytic philosophy.