Neo-Carnapian Relativism and the Idea of Framework

Abstract

In “Carnap’s Metaontology”, Matti Eklund explores four plausible interpretations of Rudolf Carnap’s ontological position. I intend to provide a neo-Carnapian view on what he calls the “relativist” interpretation of Carnap. Eklund conceives of the relativist interpretation as a more radical extension of the “language pluralist” interpretation. Central to the language pluralist interpretation are the following claims: there are many possible languages, the meaning and therefore truth value of a single sentence can vary across languages, and the language we speak is just one possible language (Eklund 231). The major difference between the language pluralist interpretation and the relativist interpretation lies in two further claims.