AN APOLOGY OF CARNAP

An Apology of Carnap

This paper is focused on dismissive metaontological views about ontology. The paper’s first section deals with radical dismissivism: a view which I interpret as Carnap’s (1956). The second section approaches moderate dismissivism: a view which I interpret as Hirsch’s (2011). My first claim is stated in section three: that there are significant differences between the mentioned authors. However,...

An Apology

An Apology

Apology

The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap

Entities A particular source of opposition to Carnap's semantic methods arises from the use of abstract entities such as classes, properties, and numbers, many philosphers feeling that such use depends upon demonstration that these abstract entities "do actually exist". Carnap regarded such questions as metaphysical and hence senseless, but they were raised by anti-metaphysical empiricists. Car...