Carnap, Metaontology and the Aufbau

Matti Eklund (Uppsala University)

The next session of the Reconstructing Carnap Webinar Series will take place on March 25. Please note that in large parts of North America daylight saving time has already started, while Europe will move the clock only at the end of the month.

Speaker: Matti Eklund (Uppsala University)
Title: Carnap, Metaontology and the Aufbau

Time: March 25, 2026 —4:30 to 6:30pm CET (11.30-13.30 EDT)
Link: meet.google.com/uaq-jqpf-mwr

The abstract is provided below. For further information about the Reconstructing Carnap Webinar Series 2026, please consult the following web-page:https://valep.vc.univie.ac.at/files/External/2026_Reconstructing_Carnap-original.pdf

Videos of past presentations are available on the YouTube channel of the series—feel free to explore and subscribe: Reconstructing Carnap Webinar Series - YouTube

The series is organized in collaboration with Carnap in Context IV (ÖAW, FWF Grant PAT7905424) and Rudolf Carnap Digital (MCMP, LMU Munich). 

Looking forward to seeing you all on March 25!

Carnap, Metaontology and the Aufbau

By Matti Eklund, Uppsala University

In my talk, I plan to do two things. First, as background, I will go through my view on the later Carnap on metaontology and my reasons for holding this view. Central to my view is the question of what Carnap’s “frameworks” are. Second, I will ask: what light does the Aufbau, a much earlier work, shed on these issues? In his Intellectual Autobiography, Carnap reflects, in connection with the Aufbau, that he held a ”neutral attitude” toward ”the various philosophical forms of language”, and that it is this attitude that remains “e.g., with respect to the contemporary controversy about a nominalist or Platonic language”. I will both discuss the implications of taking Carnap at his word regarding this continuity and problematize what Carnap says regarding his earlier self.