LOGICAL EMPIRICISM

Discussant:Cesar C. Inocencio

M.A.T. - ELA

What is Logical Empiricism?

Empiricism = theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience

• Etymology = English term "empiric" derives from the Greek word μπειρία, which is ἐcognate with and translates to the Latin experientia, from which we derive the word "experience" and the related word "experiment"

What is Logical Empiricism?

Also known as logical positivism or logical neopositivism or scientific philosophy

A philosophic movement rather than a set of doctrines that flourished in the 1920s and 30s in several centers of Europe and in the 40s and 50s in the US

Regards science as the only source of knowledge and claims metaphysics is meaningless

What is Logical Empiricism?

Group's common concern: scientific methodology & important role that science could play in reshaping society

Logical empiricists wanted to find a natural & important role for logic and mathematics

Logical empiricists wanted to find an understanding of philosophy according to which it was part of science

Background

Philosophy in the 1900s – one of the 5 main movements:

1. Existentialism

2. Phenomenology

3. Pragmatism

4. Logical Empiricism or Logical Positivism

5. Philosophical Analysis

Background Positivism – variation of the philosophical

theory called empiricism Characteristic theses of positivism:

1) science is the only valid knowledge;

2) philosophy does not possess a method different from science;

3) the task of philosophy is to find the general principles common to all the sciences and to use these principles as guides to human conduct & as basis of social organization

This theory states that all knowledge is based on experience.

2 forms:

1) Positivism of Auguste

Comte (1800s) – argued

that societies progress from a theological stage to a metaphysical one, then to a scientific stage wherein the positivistic, scientific outlook and method are dominant

Background

Background

2) Logical positivism – originated during 1920s in a group of philosophers called the Vienna Circle

der Wiener Kreis Also known as

Ernst Mach Society (Verein Ernst Mach)

Members of the Vienna Circle:

1. Gustav Bergmann 8. Richard von Mises 2. Rudolf Carnap 9. Marcel Natkin3. Philipp Frank 10. Otto Neurath4. Hans Hahn 11. Olga-Hahn

Neurath5. Tscha Hung 12. Theodore

Radakovic6. Victor Kraft 13. Rose Rand

7. Karl Menger 14. Friedrich Waismann

Background Academic: (1) Steady departure of various

sciences from philosophy to form autonomous disciplines; (2) developments in the sciences themselves, esp. the rise of non-Euclidean geometries in mathematics & establishment of relativity theory in physics → Kantianism: we could not represent the world except as a Euclidean structure & Euclidean geometry was, a priori, a permanent feature of any future physics

Background Relativity theory → Einstein: physical

science best described as a non-Euclidean manifold of non-constant curvature

World War I = unmitigated disaster for central Europe; economic turmoil of the 20s; political upheavals of the 30s

Cultural changes in the arts, like paintings, music & architecture & even more importantly, in new modes of living

Albert Einstein

Background

People were enslaved by unscientific, metaphysical ways of thinking, e.g. in theology, in racial hatreds, conceptions of property, in traditional ideas about the “proper” roles of men & women in society

Essential 1st step in reforming society & emancipating humankind = articulate scientific methods & a scientific conception of philosophy

Background

Problem: to specify the form of proper inferences, the form of an appropriate confirmation relation, and/or the structure of good reasons

The right tool: logic Logic, like the empirical sciences, was

progressive and could be approached cooperatively by more than one investigator.

Influence of Bertrand Russell

tried to formulate & clarify problems associated w/ belief, knowledge, and truth

his original interest in philosophy rose out of the desire to discover whether philosophy “would provide any defence for anything that could be called religious belief, however vague”

Influence of Bertrand Russell:

He also wanted to persuade himself that “something could be known, in pure mathematics if not elsewhere.”

Fundamental principle: “view the world from the point of view of the here and now, not with that large impartiality which theists attribute to the Deity.”

Proponents of Logical Empiricism1. Hans Hahn (1879

– 1934): distinguished mathematician; instrumental in bringing Schlick in Vienna in 1922 & was called “the actual founder of the Vienna Circle”

Proponents...

2. Moritz Schlick (1882 – 1936): one of the first philosophers to write about Einstein's relativity theory; work ranges on space & time to gen. Epistemology & ethics; assassinated by a deranged student in 1936

3. Otto Neurath (1882 – 1945):

Austrian philosopher of science & sociologist

developed ISOTYPE picture language

worked on physicalism, anti-metaphysics & unity of science

championed 'the scientific attitude' & the Unity of Science Movement denied any value to philosophy over & above the pursuit of work on science, within science & for scienceScience in every sense=a social & historical enterprise

Otto Neurath: Maverick leader of the Vienna Circle

4. Alfred Jules (A.J.) Ayer (1910 – 1989) English philosopher in the

tradition of British empiricism

Visited the Vienna Circle in 1932-33

His book Language, Truth, and Logic (1936) was a best seller after WWII & represents logical positivism to many English speakers

members of the Vienna Circle

Main philosophical work: The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1935/1959)

Considered himself an outsider

Claimed to have “killed” logical positivism

5. Karl Popper (1902 – 1994): Born in Vienna & with a doctorate there, he was intensely engaged in discussions with

6. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951)

born into an immensely wealthy Viennese family

studied at Cambridge from 1911, where he formed friendships w/ Russell, Keynes & Moore

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921/1922): enormously influential on many logical empiricists

does not seek to solve or answer philosophical problems but asks in what senses these are problems and questions

▪ claims that philosophical questions are not genuine questions but puzzles which need to be dissolved rather than solved

▪ The puzzles arise from the forms of statements made in ordinary language, w/c in turn arise because we are dominated by certain “pictures.”

Example: “Pictures” of every noun correlated w/ some visible or ethereal substance; of private thoughts & feelings imprisoned in the body like genii in a bottle. One breaks the spell of such pictures by showing how variously most words are actually used & sometimes by inventing “language games” to suggest other possible uses.

• Philosophy gives no information about the world. It is a way of clarifying propositions that claim to report facts of the world.

• Philosophy: not a theory, but an activity

• “What we are looking for is not hidden, but before our very eyes. We must learn to examine the actual use of words in ordinary language.”

Philosophy

• Logical Positivism shows the profound influence of the achievements of science and mathematics, particularly with respect to their continuous improvement in method and the application of this method in some form to other aspects of behavior.

Philosophy

Logical empiricism is a philosophy that combines empiricism – the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge – with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology. It may be considered as a type of analytic philosophy.

Verifiability Theory of Meaning Every claim, every declarative sentence,

falls into one of three categories:

1. Either it is true or false by logic or definition alone.

2. It is an empirical claim that is in principle verifiable or falsifiable via empirical observation.

3. It is meaningless. (Or it could be reducible to one of these, or be a combination of these.)

Verifiability Theory of Meaning

Examples of sentences that are true or false by logic or definition:

1. That bachelor is married.

2. All triangles have three sides.

3. Fred is from the planet Epticon and it is not the case that Fred is from the planet Epticon.

Verifiability Theory of Meaning

Example of an empirical claim that is in principle verifiable or falsifiable via empirical observation:

“Julius Caesar weighed more at noon twelve days after his 22nd birthday than he did at noon thirteen days after his 22nd birthday.”

Verifiability Theory of Meaning

Example of a meaningless sentence:

“Tuesday weighs more than the square root of 3.”

2. Positivists tend to regard the primary task of philosophy to be the clarification of language, through a process of logical analysis.

Such analysis leads them to accept another kind of statement as cognitively significant, namely, those called tautological. Example: “A is A.” “A brown cow is a cow.”

3. Positivists consider any questions that cannot be answered by their methods to be meaningless, and therefore they assert that all questions incapable of empirical verification, primarily those of metaphysics, theology, and so on, are meaningless.

Basic Tenets

1. Logical positivists were all interested in science and skeptical of theology and metaphysics.

2. They propose that all knowledge is based on logical inference from simple “protocol sentences” grounded in observable facts.

3. Many endorsed forms of materialism, metaphysical naturalism, and empiricism.

Basic Tenets 4. Verifiability criterion of meaning, or

verificationism: a proposition is “cognitively meaningful” only if there is a finite procedure for conclusively determining its truth.

intended consequence: metaphysical, theological, and ethical statements fail this criterion, and so are not cognitively meaningful.

5. commitment to Unified Science – the development of a common language or, in Neurath's phrase, a “universal slang” in which all scientific propositions can be expressed.

Influence of Logical Positivism1. Logical positivism was essential to the

development of early analytic philosophy. The term subsequently came to be almost interchangeable with “analytic philosophy” during the 1st half of the 20th century.

2. ...immensely influential in the philosophy of language and represented the dominant philosophy of science between WWI & the Cold War.

3. ...influenced Bengali Philosophy, Drishtantoism, till the present.

Criticisms▪ Early critics said that its basic tenets could not

themselves be formulated consistently. The verifiability criterion of meaning did not seem verifiable; but neither was it simply a logical tautology, since it had implications for the practice of science and the empirical truth of other statements. This presented severe problems for the logical consistency of the theory.

▪ Another problem was that, while positive existential claims (“there is at least one human being”) and negated universal claims (“not all ravens are black”) allow for obvious methods of verification (find a human or a non-black raven), negative existential claims and positive universal claims do not allow for verification.

Criticisms

▪ Universal claims could apparently never be verified.* This resulted in a great deal of work on induction, probability, and “confirmation,” which combined verification and falsification.

Educational Implications

Logical positivism is a philosophical system and not a theory of education. In philosophy its contribution is particularly notable in the field of epistemology. Therefore, its implications are particularly important in teaching methods and the methods of communicating knowledge in education. The following are the important implications of logical positivism in the field of education.

Educational Implications1. Aims of education.

to distinguish between sense and nonsense, knowledge and ignorance, meaningful and meaningless propositions.

It aims at propagation of scientific knowledge. It seeks to base the entire educational process on intelligence and reasoning. It lays emphasis upon objective knowledge as against subjectivity.

Thus, its aim is precisely the opposite of existentialism. Knowledge, according to it, is empirical. The educational system should be based upon reliable and verified knowledge. Verification is through the practical consequences. Thus, logical positivists advise the use of utilitarian criterion in knowledge. Education aims at creating critical and scientific attitude. This is possible by training in language.

Educational Implications2. Educational method. = both logical and positive

The teacher should himself analyze propositions in knowledge and check their verification.

His approach should be strictly scientific and objective.

He should adopt educational methods verified by educationists.

He should test hypotheses and assumptions in every field of knowledge.

He should develop the power of reasoning.

He should train the student in logical thinking.

He should have a sense of purpose everywhere and reject everything which cannot be verified.

Educational Implications3. Curriculum. The logical positivist rejects metaphysics, religion, and

all such knowledge which may not be verified.

Language and grammar, besides logic, find central place in logical positivist curriculum.

The training in analysis of language is necessary for every student. It is only analysis which leads to clarity of thought.

Religious, moral and spiritual education have no place in positivist curriculum.

Sciences occupy a prestigious place in it.

It rejects self-criticism everywhere. All criticism must be objective.

Science and scientific research, both theoretical and practical, should be encouraged by the universities.

The students should develop constructive imagination.

Educational Implications4. School organisation. Logical positivists believe in scientific

humanism.

The school should be managed by the students as much as by the teachers.

The school organisation should be based upon functional efficiency, utilitarianism and humanism. Humanism considers everything relative and nothing absolute. So, innovations should be encouraged in place of conformity and traditions.

Educational process should be confined to the realm of knowledge.

Only objective knowledge should be propagated.

Only logical definitions should be accepted.

Only valid interpretations should find currency.

Contributions of Logical PositivismIn the final analysis, the contribution of logical positivism is

the evolution of the philosophy of language and a principle of verification.

Logical positivists develop a scientific theory of truth. They reject everything which may not be verified. The task of philosophy, according to logical positivism, is to work as a science of sciences.

Thus, logical positivists act as catalysts. They downright reject all confused and unverified beliefs, hypotheses and propositions.

Contributions of Logical Positivism

Logical positivist method is not only useful in the field of philosophy but also in the field of sciences. Scientists present a theory after prolonged observation and experimentation, gathering the data, classification, generalization and verification.

The presentation of theory, however, should be strictly according to rules laid down by logic and grammar. Without this method, scientific knowledge will not be valid and no valid implications may be deduced from it. This training is necessary for all the students. This training is also necessary for teachers and researchers.

Contributions of Logical Empiricism

Logical positivists have sought to remove confusions and indefiniteness in every field of knowledge. They are against all verbosity and verbal tricks.

The movement started as an examination of empirical principles.

It condemned the traditional role of philosophy and allotted new functions to it.

It made philosophy concur to science. According to it what grammar is to language, philosophy is to science.

Contemporary Status within Philosophy

▪ Key tenets of logical positivism, including its atomistic philosophy of science, the verifiability principle, and the fact-value distinction, came under attack after WWII by philosophers such as Nelson Goodman, Quine, J.L. Austin, and Peter Strawson. Nicholas G. Fotion comments that, “By the late 1960s it became obvious that the movement had pretty much run its course.” Most philosophers consider logical positivism to be “dead, or as dead as a philosophical movement ever becomes.” (John Passmore)

▪ By the late 1970s, its ideas were so generally recognized to be seriously defective that one of its own main proponents, A.J. Ayer, could say in an interview: “I suppose the most important [defect]...was that nearly all of it was false.”

▪ It retains an important place in the history of analytic philosophy as the antecedent of contemporary philosophies, such as Constructive empiricism, Positivism and Postpositivism.

Conclusion

“The story of twentieth-century philosophy is very largely the story of the notion of sense or meaning…meanings are what the members of the Vienna Circle proffered a general litmus-paper for; meanings are what the Tractatus, with certain qualifications, denies to the would-be propositions both of Formal Logic and of philosophy; and yet meanings are just what, in different ways, philosophy and logic are ex officio about.” – Gilbert Ryle, The Revolution in Philosophy, Macmillan and Co., Ltd, London. 1956, p.8

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