Logical Positivism & Verification Principle

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Logical Positivism

In the 1920s, a group of philosophers developed a form of scientific reasoning known as logical positivism.

Beliefs and the Vienna Circle

The logical positivists were concerned with the relationship between the use of language and knowledge, rejecting as meaningless what they saw as non-cognitive (fact-free) claims.
The meetings regularly took place in Vienna and as such, the group became commonly known as the Vienna Circle.

Influence of Ludwig Wittgenstein

They were influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Early in his career, Wittgenstein suggested that meaningful language is connected with the things we know from our senses.
The logical positivists caught on to this idea and used it to challenge religion: how could religious language link with sense experience?

A.J Ayer on the word 'god'

‘The term ‘god’ is a metaphysical term. And if ‘god’ is a metaphysical term, then it cannot even be probable that God exists. For to say that ‘God exists’ is to make a metaphysical utterance which cannot be either true or false. And by the same criterion, no sentence which purports to describe the nature of a transcendent god can possess any literal significance.’

Ayer on the existence of God

Ayer does not just deny God’s existence; he denies the possibility of God’s existence altogether on the grounds that there is no way of empirically verifying his existence.
Because of this, Ayer would disagree with all the traditional arguments for the existence of God as none of them conclusively and empirically prove the existence of God.

The Verification Principle

Verification means checking a statement to see if it’s true. The verification principle simply states that: “a statement which cannot be conclusively verified … is simply devoid of meaning.”

Analytic propositions

Verificationists like Ayer believe that statements can only be meaningful if they can be demonstrated, and these can be divided into two types:
- Analytic propositions, which are true by definition, either because:
  - This is required by the definition of the words used – e.g. ‘this circle is not a square.
  - They are mathematical – e.g. ‘2+2=4’.

Synthetic propositions

Synthetic propositions are true by confirmation of the senses.
- E.g. ‘I can see that it’s roast for lunch on a Thursday’.

Ayer's view of religious claims

Ayer thought that religious claims are non-cognitive and impossible to verify, so they are meaningless.
He does not say that they are just false; it is more that they cannot really tell us anything at all.

Flaw: requires conclusive proof

But for many logical positivists, even A.J. Ayer himself, the principle is problematic. As it requires conclusive proof through observation or experience, it suggests that obviously meaningful statements are meaningless.
- For example, statements that we make such as ‘dinosaurs lived on the earth’ can’t be verified through observation or experience, so we cannot accept the statements as meaningful.

Modifications to the principle

So a weaker version of the verification principle was brought into play. This weaker verification makes two modifications.
- Statements that attempt to say something about the world are meaningful if it is possible in principle to gather the evidence i.e. do we know how such statements could be verified?
- Conclusive proof is not always possible. So statements that attempt to say something about the world are factually meaningful if experience and observation can establish statements as probable.