The Verification Principle Flashcards
Where can the seeds of logical positivism be found?
In David Hume’s work
Who was logical positivism fully developed under?
A group of famous philosophers came together in Vienna in the 1920s, under the leadership of Moritz Schlick
Meaningful analytic
Statements are meaningful if they are derived from reason, such as mathematical statements or tautologies
Meaningful synthetic
Statements derived from observations of the physical world
Meaningless
Any statement that doesn’t fit into ‘meaningful synthetic’ or ‘meaningful analytic’.
Where did AJ Ayer develop the work of the logical positivists?
In his 1936 book ‘Language, Truth and Logic.’
What did Ayer believe about any metaphysical statements?
Were meaningless, “not factually significant.”
What didn’t Ayer deny about religious statements?
That they are not important on a personal level, just being unverifiable
Why did Ayer develop new categories?
To remedy the way it made scientific and historical statements meaningless.
Verification in practice
Practically possible to check the truth or falsity of the statement
Verification in principle
We know in theory what is required to check, but it is impractical
Strong verification
A statement is conclusively verified empirically
Weak verification
Some empirical evidence counts towards a statement, making it probable
What does the verification principle show about religious statements?
That they are meaningless, as they are neither analytic nor synthetic
Why are religious statements also meaningless in Ayer’s modification?
Impossible to verify God’s goodness in principle, we don’t have any evidence to support it.
