Question : Are empirical statements conclusively verifiable? Discuss the limitations of ‘verification theory of meaning’.
(2014)
Answer : According to the Verification theory, a sentence is meaningful just in case its being true would make some difference to the course of our future experience; an experientially unverifiable sentence or “sentence” is meaningless.More specifically, a sentence’s particular meaning is its verification condition, the set of possible experiences on someone’s part that would tend to show that the sentence was true.
The theory faces a number of objections:The Positivists themselves never achieved a formulation of the ....
Question : Distinguish necessary from empirical propositions. How is a necessary proposition justified?’ Explain.
(2013)
Answer : The distinction between necessary and empirical positions is same as the difference beween a priori and a posterori. A given proposition is knowable a priori if it can be known independent of any experience other than the experience of learning the language in which the proposition is expressed, whereas a proposition that is knowable aposteriori is known on the basis of experience. For example, the proposition that ‘all bachelors are unmarried’ is a priori, and ....
Question : Logical positivism broadly claims that Metaphysics and Theology are meaningless because they are neither matters of logic nor verifiable empirically.’ Critically examine.
(2012)
Answer : According to the logical positivists, only science can give real knowledge, therefore on the basis of cognitive view point, metaphysics has no utility and thus it is meaningless.
The main logic of logical positivists is that metaphysicians themselves do not consider metaphysical statements as analytical statements. In this situation these statements can be useful only when they are verifiable by experience. But these statements cannot be verified on the basis of experience. Thus it can be ....
Question : Discuss the limitations of verification theory.
(2011)
Answer : Logical postivism is also known as new empiricism or logical empiricism. Earlier, empiricism was based on psychological analysis of knowledge. This is based on logical analysis of language. Previous critics point out that metaphyscial propositions are false. Logical positivists say that they are not false. They are meaningless i.e. they are nonsensical. This theory of meaning is called verification theory of meaning. But logical positivism deny cognitive or literal meaning. They do not deny emotive ....
Question : Are necessary propositions Linguistic by nature? Discuss in the light of logical positivism.
(2010)
Answer : Ayer’s being one of the chief proponents of logical positivism linguistic explanation of the a-priori Analyticity as truth is based on the fact that he says necessary propositions as analytical statement. By definition Ayer defines analyticity as follows: a proposition is analytic when its validity depends solely on the definitions of the symbols it contains, and synthetic when its validity is determined by the facts of experience. Immediately after this, though, Ayer seems to deny ....
Question : Examine how Ayer eliminates metaphysics.
(2009)
Answer : Ayer explains that the principle of verifiability may be used as a criterion to determine whether a statement is meaningful. To be meaningful, a statement must be either analytic (i.e. a tautology) or capable of being verified. According to Ayer, analytic statements are tautologies. A tautology is a statement that is necessarily true, true by definition, and true under any conditions. A tautology is a repetition of the meaning of a statement, using different words ....
Question : Explain the theory of logical construction. Does it provide a satisfactory account of language?
(2008)
Answer : Bertrand Russell described several different definitions and philosophical analyses as treating certain entities and expressions as “logical constructions”. Examples he cited were the Frege/Russell definition of numbers as classes of equinumerous classes, the theory of definite descriptions, the construction of matter from sense data, and several others.
Generally expressions for such entities are called “incomplete symbols” and the entities themselves “logical fictions”. The notion originates with Russell’s logicist program of reducing mathematics to logic, was widely ....
Question : Elimination of metaphysics at the hands of Logical Positivists.
(2007)
Answer : The attitude of logical positivism towards metaphysics is well expressed by Carnap. Carnap says that language consists of a vocabulary, i.e. a set of meaningful words, and a syntax, i.e. a set of rules governing the formation of sentences from the words of the vocabulary. Pseudo-statements, i.e. sequences of words that at first sight resemble statements but in reality have no meaning, are formed in two ways: either meaningless words occur in them, or they ....
Question : Explain the verification theory and show whether it leads to the elimination of metaphysics. 2000, Civil service
(2000)
Answer : Ayer’s stated aim in Language, Truth & Logic is one which many philosophers have pursued: “to establish beyond question what should be the purpose and method of a philosophical inquiry”. Central to this aim, as Ayer conceived of it, was the demolition of traditional metaphysics, where this was thought of as the attempt to say something about “a reality transcending the world of science and common sense.” Ayer thought that this metaphysical project was an ....
