A. J. 艾耶尔
只有能够被经验检验或依定义为真的陈述才有意义——道德判断仅仅表达我们的感受。
定位
在英国普及了逻辑实证主义：《语言、真理与逻辑》。
核心思想
- 证实原则
- 情感主义
老师: 吉尔伯特·赖尔
影响
受影响于 6
大卫·休谟
受其影响
Ayer modelled his split of analytic and empirical propositions on Hume’s relations of ideas and matters of fact, quoting his ‘commit it then to the flames’ (1936). A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936); Hume (1980); D. Hume, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748); SEP “Alfred Jules Ayer”
依据: 亦见于 InPhO · InPhO
大卫·休谟 › 1711–1776
伯特兰·罗素
受其影响 ✓
Ayer named Russell, with Wittgenstein, as source of Language, Truth and Logic (1936) and used his method of logical construction to reduce material things to sense-contents. A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936), preface; Russell and Moore: The Analytical Heritage (1971); SEP “Alfred Jules Ayer”
伯特兰·罗素 › 1872–1970
莫里茨·石里克
受其影响
Ayer, sent to Vienna by Ryle, attended meetings of Schlick’s circle (1932–33) and brought its verification principle and rejection of metaphysics to Britain (Language, Truth and Logic, 1936). A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936); Part of My Life (1977); M. Schlick, “Meaning and Verification”, Philosophical Review 45 (1936); SEP “Alfred Jules Ayer”
依据: AI 草稿
莫里茨·石里克 › 1882–1936
路德维希·维特根斯坦
受其影响
Ayer took from the Tractatus (1921) the view that logical truths are tautologies saying nothing about the world and extended it to mathematics (Language, Truth and Logic, 1936). A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936); L. Wittgenstein, Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung (1921); SEP “Alfred Jules Ayer”
依据: 亦见于 InPhO · InPhO
路德维希·维特根斯坦 › 1889–1951
鲁道夫·卡尔纳普
受其影响 ✓
Ayer took up Carnap’s elimination of metaphysics by logical analysis of language and his view of philosophy as a department of logic (Language, Truth and Logic, 1936). A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936); R. Carnap, “Überwindung der Metaphysik durch logische Analyse der Sprache”, Erkenntnis 2 (1932); SEP “Alfred Jules Ayer”
依据: 亦见于 Wikidata · Wikidata
鲁道夫·卡尔纳普 › 1891–1970
批评
受批评于 4
卡尔·古斯塔夫·亨普尔
受其批评
Hempel argued that Ayer’s verifiability criterion, even as revised in 1946, either admits metaphysics or excludes scientific laws (‘Problems and Changes in the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning’, 1950). C. G. Hempel, “Problems and Changes in the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning”, Revue Internationale de Philosophie 11 (1950), 41–63; A. Church, review of Ayer, Journal of Symbolic Logic 14 (1949)
依据: AI 草稿
卡尔·古斯塔夫·亨普尔 › 1905–1997
J. L. 奥斯汀
受其批评
Austin attacked the sense-datum theory of Ayer’s Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940), above all the argument from illusion (Sense and Sensibilia, lectures published 1962). J. L. Austin, Sense and Sensibilia, ed. G. J. Warnock (1962); A. J. Ayer, The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940); Ayer’s reply: “Has Austin Refuted the Sense-Datum Theory?”, Synthese 17 (1967)
依据: AI 草稿
J. L. 奥斯汀 › 1911–1960
威尔弗里德·塞拉斯
受其批评
Sellars’s ‘Myth of the Given’ critique targeted sense-datum theories; he examined Ayer’s view of sense-datum talk as ‘another language’ (‘Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind’, 1956, §§ 8–9). W. Sellars, “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind” (1956), part II, §§ 8–9; A. J. Ayer, The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940)
依据: AI 草稿
威尔弗里德·塞拉斯 › 1912–1989
R. M. 黑尔
受其批评
Hare objected to emotivist theories like Ayer’s that they cannot tell moral reasoning from persuasion; moral judgements are universalisable prescriptions (The Language of Morals, 1952). R. M. Hare, The Language of Morals (1952), ch. 1; Freedom and Reason (1963); A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936), ch. VI
依据: AI 草稿
R. M. 黑尔 › 1919–2002
作品
- 1936语言、真理与逻辑
形而上学和伦理学的陈述是无意义的——情感主义。
立场
Ayer brought the doctrines of the Vienna Circle to the English-speaking world in a clear, provocative form. A statement, he held, is meaningful only if it is either true by definition, as in logic and mathematics, or in principle verifiable by sense experience. By this test metaphysics and theology are neither true nor false but literally nonsense. Ethical judgments such as “stealing is wrong” describe no facts at all; they express feelings of approval or disapproval and seek to evoke them in others – the position known as emotivism. Ayer later softened many of these claims, but his little book became the classic manifesto of logical positivism and a provocation for generations of students.
生平与背景
Ayer was born in London in 1910, studied at Oxford and in 1933 spent several months with the Vienna Circle. At twenty-five he published Language, Truth and Logic, which made him famous overnight. After serving in the Welsh Guards and in intelligence during the war, he taught at University College London and from 1959 at Oxford; he was knighted in 1970.
其他主要作品
- Language, Truth and Logic (1936)
- The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940)
- The Problem of Knowledge (1956)
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