Logical Positivism

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  • Created by: mariam26
  • Created on: 14-04-21 03:28
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  • The search for scientific explanations of the universe
    • Logical Positivism
      • Verification Theory
        • Logical Positivists determine whether a sentence is meaningful or not (helps a philosophers job become more important)
        • There are 2 types of meaningful proposition
          • Tautologies
            • one part of a sentence is repeated but in a different way (true by definition and a priori) e.g maths
          • Empirically Verifiable Propositions
            • a sentence where we can determine the truth of it by observation (sense experience)
        • The verification principle
          • a sentence is meaningful if and only if it is a tautology or is verifiable by sense experience
      • A.J. Ayer
        • Ayer distinguished 2 types of verification
          • Strong verification
            • The truth of a statement can be conclusively/100% established in experience
          • Weak verification
            • It is sufficient to state what observation would make a statement probable
              • does not have to be true just more probable than not
        • Ayer believed that strong verification is impossible and supported weak verification
      • Criticisms and Responses to Ayer
        • D.Z. Phillips
          • Scientific and religious sentences cannot be compared
            • The search for God is a religious quest rather than a scientific one
        • Foundationalism
          • The belief that all knowledge is based on some unarguable, self-evident truth
        • Vincent Brummer
          • To treat sentences of faith as if they were scientific sentences is to commit an error of understanding
      • The Vienna Circle
    • In the 20th Century people were looking for more scientific explanations of existence
      • This was after Hegel’s positive outlook on existence (the universe is in a constant state of improvement) was proven to be wrong with events like WW1

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