Single Idea 13933

[catalogued under 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 1. Ontologies]

Full Idea

We distinguish two kinds of existence questions: first, entities of a new kind within the framework; we call them 'internal questions'. Second, 'external questions', concerning the existence or reality of the system of entities as a whole.

Gist of Idea

Existence questions are 'internal' (within a framework) or 'external' (concerning the whole framework)

Source

Rudolph Carnap (Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology [1950], 2)

Book Reference

Carnap,Rudolph: 'Meaning and Necessity (2nd ed)' [Chicago 1988], p.206


A Reaction

This nicely disposes of many ontological difficulties, but at the price of labelling most external questions as meaningless, so that the internal answers have very little commitment, and the external (big) questions are now banned. Not for me.

Related Idea

Idea 12217 For ontology we need, not internal or external views, but a view from outside reality [Fine,K]