The Great Philosophers: Ayer

According to Ayer, philosophy is an activity of analysis, not a means to truth. First principles and metaphysical truths can neither be established or denied byphilosophical enquiry. He tried to prove that verifibility (whether a proposition can be shown to be true or false) was the key principle of philosophical methodology. A.J. Ayer 1910-1989Ayer is best remembered for Language, Truth and Logic (1936), which introduced British and American readers to the logical positivism of the Vienna circle. Hanfling shows in this introduction to Ayer's work how he turned this philosophy into a form of British empiricism in the tradition of Hume.According to Ayer, philosophy is an activity of analysts. Metaphysical truths can be neither established nor refuted by philosophical they are meaningless. In support of this claim, he deployed his 'principle of verifiability'. But he found it difficult to refine the principle 'in such a way as to find a middle ground between [an] over-strict requirement' which would disqualify perfectly ordinary statements as meaningless, and 'the over-indulgent licensing of gibberish' - including that of metaphysics. INTRODUCTION......Page 9 A 'SUCCES DE SCANDALE'......Page 11 THE CRITERION OF VERIFIABILITY......Page 13 THE MEANING OF 'VERIFICATION'......Page 19 VERIFICATION AND ANALYSIS......Page 23 STATEMENTS ABOUT THE PAST......Page 34 MYSELF AND OTHERS......Page 38 NECESSARY TRUTHS: MATHEMATICS AND LOGIC......Page 44 THE ANALYSIS OF 'STATEMENTS OF VALUE'......Page 49 CONCLUSION......Page 57 ABBREVIATIONS......Page 58 NOTES......Page 59 Ayer is best remembered for "Language, Truth and Logic" which introduced British and American readers to the logical positivism of the Vienna circle. This introduction to Ayer's work shows how he turned his import into a form of British empiricism in the tradition of Hume.