A. J. Ayer: Truth and Logical Positivism

For this session, we will be reading Chapter 1 ("The Elimination of Metaphysics") and Chapter 6 ("Critique of Ethics and Theology") from A.J. Ayer's Language, Truth, and Logic. Although Ayer was not a key figure in the development of logical positivism, LTL lays out the core theses of the movement as developed by Carnap and the Vienna Circle. This movement built on the logical atomism of Russell and Wittgenstein (discussed in previous sessions), and was critiqued by later philosophers like Quine and Putnam (who we will discuss in future sessions)

In Chapter 1, Ayer establishes the verification principle: a statement is only meaningful if it is either analytically/logically true (like mathematics), or empirically verifiable through sense data. With this principle in hand, Ayer demonstrates how the major metaphysical debates in philosophy are devoid of any literal meaning. The verification principle shows that metaphysical questions are not even real questions.

In Chapter 6, Ayer applies the verification principle to questions of ethics and theology. Since moral facts are neither analytically true nor empirically verifiable, a moral claim lacks cognitive meaning as a proposition. Instead of treating these statements as propositions, we should see them as expressions of our feelings (a verifiable proposition), framed in a way to motivate certain behaviors in others. For example: when we say "Stealing is wrong", what we are really expressing is "I have a negative attitude towards stealing", in a way that tries to motivate others to adopt the same stance.

You can find a copy of the reading here, Focus on the first and sixth chapter, but feel free to read more if you have time.