Alfred Ayer

Sir Alfred Jules Ayer (October 29, 1910 - June 27, 1989), better known as simply A. J. Ayer (and called Freddie by friends), was a British philosopher. He helped to popularise logical positivism in English-speaking countries in his books Language, Truth and Logic (1936) and The Problem of Knowledge (1956). He distinguished his own philosophy from that of the Vienna Circle by calling his "logical empiricism". The main difference was that Ayer adopted Hume's view on causality and accepted that a synthetic statement can never be conclusively proven or disproven. This difference is frequently overlooked.

Related Topics:
October 29 - 1910 - June 27 - 1989 - Logical positivism - 1936 - 1956 - Vienna Circle - Causality

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He was educated at Eton College, and served in the British military during World War II. In some ways he was the philosophical successor to Bertrand Russell, although he gained fame more for adapting ideas of others than for true originality.

Related Topics:
Eton College - World War II - Bertrand Russell

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From 1946 to 1959, he was the Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic at the University College London. He became Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford University in 1959.

Related Topics:
University College London - Oxford University

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He is perhaps best known for his verification principle, an attempt at creating a process for determining whether a sentence has any logical meaning. In 1972-73 Ayer gave the Gifford Lectures at St. Andrews University, later published as The Central Questions of Philosophy. He believed that large parts of what was traditionally called "philosophy" - including the whole of metaphysics, theology and aesthetics - were not matters that could be judged as being true or false and that it was thus meaningless to discuss them. Unsurprisingly, this made him unpopular with several other philosophy departments in this country and his name is still reviled by many British professors to this day.

Related Topics:
Verification principle - Logic - Gifford Lectures - St. Andrews University - Metaphysics - Theology - Aesthetics

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Ayer's sense-data theory in Foundations of Empirical Knowledge was famously criticised by fellow Oxonian J. L. Austin in Sense and sensibilia, a landmark 1950's work of common language philosophy.

Related Topics:
J. L. Austin - Sense and sensibilia - Common language philosophy

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At several periods he taught or lectured in the United States, including serving as a visiting professor at Bard College in the fall of 1987, when he taught classes on "Moore and Russell" and "Ryle and Austin." At a party that same year Ayer, then 77, encountered Mike Tyson harassing Naomi Campbell and demanded Tyson stop. Tyson said "Do you know who the fuck I am? I'm the heavyweight champion of the world." Ayer replied "And I am the former Wykeham Professor of Logic! We are both pre-eminent in our field; I suggest that we talk about this like rational men."

Related Topics:
Bard College - Mike Tyson - Naomi Campbell

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Shortly before his death in 1989 he received publicity after having an unusual near-death experience, which to some suggested that he had moved away from his lifelong and famous religious scepticism. He may however simply have been attempting to report his experiences, in an honestly objective, empirical manner.

Related Topics:
Near-death experience - Scepticism

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Ayer was closely associated with the British humanist movement. He was an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association from 1947 until his death.

Related Topics:
Humanist - Rationalist Press Association

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In 1965, he became the first president of the Agnostics' Adoption Society and in the same year succeeded Julian Huxley as president of the British Humanist Association, a post he held until 1970. In 1968 he edited "The Humanist Outlook", a collection of essays on the meaning of humanism.

Related Topics:
Julian Huxley - British Humanist Association

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Ayer was knighted in 1970.

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See also:

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• a priori knowledge
 
Alfred Ayer: Further reading ►