Ayer: The Great Philosophers (The Great Philosophers Series)

By Oswald Hanfling

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415923794
• ISBN13: 9780415923798
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 0.5" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

Some implications of a thoroughgoing empiricism...

In some ways, the thought of 20th century philosopher A.J. Ayer warns us against the seductive idea of reducing all meaning down to observables. In other ways it reaches the pinnacle of self-criticism, re-evaluation, and integrity. Its importance remains undisputed, regardless of the many barbs critics, including Ayer himself, have jabbed through it. Some of its flaws doubtless originated from the twenty-five year old Ayer's brilliant, but nonetheless somewhat intrepid, young mind. Along these lines, many have said that youth contains a certain arrogance that one outgrows. As age grinds on, passionate conviction tends to give way to sober refection. Ayer's philosophy provides a great example of this tendency. His first best selling book, "Language, Truth, and Logic," at least the first edition, seems to have all the answers. Eliminate metaphysics! Verify everything! No more misleading pseudo-statements! But as time trudged on criticisms bubbled over the book's bold claims. Ayer backed off, but nonetheless continued to defend many aspects of the book for the rest of his life. This short essay tells the story of Ayer's initial overconfidence and subsequent courageous self-reflection. The scope stays on the most important claims made in "Language, Truth, and Logic" and Ayer's later in life re-evaluations. A "criterion of verifiability" was posited early on. This questioned the validity of "super-empirical" or metaphysical claims and made meaning dependent on the verification of a statement or proposition. Unverifiable claims were branded as "meaningless." These included the statements of metaphysics, supernaturalism, and many religious claims. Unfortunately, issues of recursive dismissal and the omnipresence of unobservable but undeniably true statements (i.e., "arsenic is poisonous") led Ayer to admit that metaphysics "could not be so easily disposed of." Presenting the dichotomy of "weak" and "strong" verification fared little better, as the "weak" sort seemed to allow validation of metaphysical statements. Talk of "analysis" (to examine statements) and "phenomenalism" also met with harsh self-criticism and were toned down over time. A further problem remained with validating the non-observed existence of physical objects. Since we can't observe this is it a metaphysical truth that physical objects exist when we look the other way? Ayer faced similar problems with topics introduced by sections in the book: statements about the past, "other minds," statements of logic and mathematics, and ethical claims (which led to the "boo-hooray" theory). Ayer's philosophy remains of indubitable importance regardless of the seemingly insurmountable challenges and criticism heaved upon it. The challenge of "Logical Positivism" (which some critics might call "extreme" or "fanatical" empiricism), associated with Ayer, nonetheless made an important contributions. It demonstrated some of the implications of a thoroughgoing empiricism. As such, it helped frame the

Best of the Series

The Great Philosophers series is generally a mixed bag of accessible and inaccessible or dry material. Their treatment of Ayer is the most engaging and thought provoking of the series, most likely because his Logical Positivist philosophy is not nearly as obtuse as say Bertrand Russell's mathmatical conundrums. This book is highly recommended to both students and casual readers.