Starting from the question of whether Ernst Mach’s well-known notion of “Elemente” (elements) must lead to the verdict that the arch-anti-metaphysician himself may be justly accused of holding an essentially metaphysical position, the idea of metaphysical neutrality is explained in Section I. Section II deals with Quine’s verdict on abstact entities, among which Mach’s elements would have to be counted if there were no way out of the Quinean test. Such a way out, it is proposed in Section III, is Carnap’s Remedy : The distinction of external and internal questions. Finally, in Section IV, the empirical meaning of Mach’s notion of elements is explained, from whence it’s argued that Mach’s “philosophy” is good, non-metaphysical, empirical science.
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