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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Language, Truth, and Logic is a work of philosophy by Alfred Jules Ayer, published in 1936 when Ayer was 26 (though it was in fact completed by age 25). It was crucial in bringing some of the ideas of the Vienna Circle and the logical empiricists to the attention of the English-speaking world. This book defines, explains, and argues for the verification principle of logical positivism, sometimes referred to as the "criterion of significance" or "criterion of meaning". It explains how the principle of verifiability may be applied to the problems of philosophy. The text has eight chapters: I. The Elimination of Metaphysics II. The Function of Philosophy III. The Nature of Philosophical Analysis IV. The A Priori V. Truth and Probability VI. Critique of Ethics and Theology VII. The Self and the Common World VIII. Solutions of Outstanding Philosophical Disputes
Contents
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1 Criterion of meaning 2 Types of verification 3 Metaphysics attacked 4 Truth as validation 5 Value judgments 6 New take on philosophy 7 Release details 8 References 9 External links
to Ayer, if a statement expresses an empirical proposition, then the validity of the proposition is established by its empirical verifiability. Propositions are statements that have conditions under which they can be verified. By the verification principle, meaningful statements have conditions under which their validity can be affirmed or denied. Statements that are not meaningful cannot be expressed as propositions. Every verifiable proposition is meaningful, although it may be either true or false. Every proposition asserts or denies something, and thus is either true or false.
Ayer explains that his radical empiricism is opposed to rationalism. Rationalism asserts that there are truths about the world that can be known by a priori reasoning, or independently of experience. According to the principle of verifiability, propositions about 'matters of fact' can be meaningful only if they are capable of being empirically verified. Ayer agrees with, and elaborates on, Kants explanation of the distinction between analytic and synthetic judgments. According to Ayer, a proposition is analytic if its validity depends only on the definitions of the symbols it contains. A proposition is synthetic if its validity is determined by the facts of experience. Analytic observations give us new knowledge, because they reveal unsuspected implications of our statements and beliefs. But analytic observations do not give us new knowledge of matters of fact, because they only tell us what is already known.
The principle of verifiability, however, may become a means to arbitrarily reject any abstract or transcendent concept, such as truth, justice, or "virtue." Such concepts are seen as having no literal meaning. Thus, Ayers viewpoint may become a radical scepticism. Ethics, aesthetics, and religion are all viewed as meaningless, as having no literal meaning. Ethical concepts are seen merely as expressions of feeling. Ethical or aesthetic concepts are seen as having no factual content, and therefore cannot be accepted as valid or invalid. Ayer is careful to explain that the verification principle is a definition of meaning, and that it is not an empirical proposition. He admits that there are other possible definitions of meaning. The most frequently-expressed reservation about the principle is whether it is itself verifiable; this was addressed in the fictional dialogue "Logical Positivism: a discussion". Ayer believed that it could be derived analytically from usual definitions of words like "understanding". He admitted that one could then ask for verification of that definition and then carry on into an infinite regress. Ayer considered the latter option to be simply not worth consideration, although philosophers like Donald Davidson and Richard Rorty have since used it to undermine the concrete view of language found in works like Language, Truth and Logic.
1936, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, LCCN 36-286, 254 pages 1946, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, LCCN 46-544, 160 pages 1952, New York: Dover Publications, LCCN 52-860, 160 pages 1971, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, ISBN 0140212000, 208 pages
[edit] References
1. ^ p140, Language, Truth and Logic, Penguin 2001 edition 2. ^ Wilks, Colin (2002). Emotion, Truth and Meaning. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic