LECTURE 7.1: AYER Flashcards
English philosopher from a rich family (Citroen car co.)
Alfred Jules Ayer (1910-1989)
Where did Ayer study?
Eton College
University of Oxford
University of Vienna (logical positivism with Moritz Schlik)
Served in the British intelligence special operations and MI6 in WWII
Ayer
What was the 1st book that Ayer published at 24 years old?
“Language, Truth, and Logic”
He was an anti-Vietnam war activist, supported the Labour Party, was Chairman of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination in Sport, and former President of the Homosexual Law Reform Society in UK
Ayer
4 TYPES OF SENTENCES
- Interrogative
- Imperative
- Exclamatory
- Declarative
Only this type of sentence expresses a statement, with the element of truth or falsity (cognitive meaning)
Declarative
Statements vs. Sentences
Statements - T/F
Sentences - merely uttered; no truth value
When there are underlying assumptions that has not been proven or accepted, it is a fallacy of?
Fallacy of a complex question
Direct perception paradigm
Empiricism
Empiricism is by?
David Hume (1711-1776)
HUME’S FORK (TWO MEANINGFUL TYPES OF STATEMENTS)
- Relations of ideas (analytic statements)
- Matters of fact (empirical statements)
Type of statement based on reason
Relations of ideas (analytic statements)
Type of statement based on experience or sense perception
Matters of fact (empirical statements)
Association of ideas»_space;> Habit and
custom»_space;> ______ and ______
cause ; effect
‘Tabula rasa’ - mind as the blank sheet is by?
John Locke
‘Ese es percipi’ - to be is to be perceived is by?
George Berkeley
An emotivist (Language, Truth, and Logic, 1936)
Alfred Jules Ayer
The role of philosophy is the logical analysis of language
Logical Positivism
Reason or Experience:
“That which is red is colored.”
“A puppy is a young dog.”
“2 x 5 = 10”
Reason
Reason or Experience:
“The cat is on the mat.”
“The sun will rise tomorrow.”
Experience
Reason or Experience:
Analytic Statement
Reason
Reason or Experience:
Empirical Statement
Experience
Reason or Experience:
Coherence (validation within the system)
Reason
Reason or Experience:
Correspondence (verification with the state-of-affairs)
Experience
Reason or Experience:
Formal Sciences (e.g. logic, math, geometry, etc.)
Reason
Reason or Experience:
Empirical Sciences (e.g. biology, botany, physics, sociology, etc.)
Experience
The denial of an analytic statement will lead to ____________/____________.
absurdity/contradiction
Criterion of Verification in the theory of meaning
Denies the literal significance of any metaphysical propositions, including those that affirmed or denied the existence of God
truths of reason - formal
matters of logic - a priori
truths of language - ‘is’ of identity
Analytic Statements
truths of fact - synthetic
matters of fact - a posteriori
Empirical Statements
Contains an assertion that is verifiable as either true or false (e.g. descriptive ethical symbols)
Cognitive Meaning
To express and influence feelings and attitude; to evince the same feelings in others (e.g. normative ethical symbols)
Emotive Meaning
Ayer: “Ethical concepts are ____________ and, therefore, unanalyzable.”
pseudo-concepts
Ayer: “The presence of an _________ _________ in a proposition adds nothing to its factual content.”
ethical symbol
Ayer: “It is only __________ ethical symbols and not descriptive ethical symbols, that are held by us to be indefinable in factual terms.”
normative
Rudolf Carnap: “A ________ _________ is nothing else than a command in a misleading grammatical form. (e.g. “Cheating is wrong.”)
value statement
