What is the verification principle according to A. J. Ayer?

Ayer presented the verification principle as the only valid basis for philosophical inquiry requiring statements to be verified logically or empirically.

Which military units did A. J. Ayer serve with during the Second World War?

Ayer served as an officer in the Welsh Guards regiment working within both the Special Operations Executive and MI6 agencies during the conflict.

What happened to A. J. Ayer when he choked on smoked salmon in 1988?

His heart stopped for four minutes after choking on smoked salmon during this event leading him to write about a near-death experience.

A. J. Ayer: the story on HearLore

Alfred Jules Ayer entered the world on the 29th of October 1910 in St John's Wood, a district in north west London. His parents were wealthy continental Europeans who brought significant resources to his upbringing. His mother Reine Citroen came from the Dutch-Jewish family that founded the Citroën car company in France. His father Jules Louis Cyprien Ayer was a Swiss Calvinist financier working for the Rothschild banking family. He served as secretary to Alfred Rothschild himself. Ayer began his formal education at Ascham St Vincent's School in Eastbourne, Sussex. He started boarding there at the age of seven due to circumstances surrounding the First World War. The school was a former preparatory institution for boys located by the sea. At Eton College he became known for his characteristic bravado and intellectual precocity. He won a classics scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford after graduating from Eton. In his final examinations at Eton he ranked second in his year but first in classics. He graduated with a BA degree holding first-class honours.

Ayer spent a single year studying philosophy at the University of Vienna after leaving Oxford. This period exposed him directly to the ideas of the Vienna Circle. Moritz Schlick was the leading light of this group when Ayer visited them as a young guest. Others within the circle were already writing papers on verification issues before Ayer arrived. He returned to England and published Language Truth and Logic in 1936. The book appeared when he was twenty-six years old. He had begun work on it at the age of twenty-three. This text presented the verification principle as the only valid basis for philosophical inquiry. Ayer argued that statements like God exists or charity is good are meaningless unless they can be verified logically or empirically. Religious language fell into the category of literal nonsense under his framework. Metaphysics also received similar treatment as unverifiable claims. The stance that belief in God denotes no verifiable hypothesis became known as igtheism by some observers. Paul Kurtz used the term to describe this position. Ayer later stated clearly that he did not believe in God because theists failed to make their concept intelligible.

The Second World War saw Ayer serve as an officer in the Welsh Guards regiment. His service focused chiefly on intelligence gathering operations. He worked within both the Special Operations Executive and MI6 agencies during the conflict. Ayer was commissioned as a second lieutenant from the Officer Cadet Training Unit on the 21st of September 1940. This date marked his official entry into military command roles. His background made him suitable for these high-stakes positions requiring discretion and analytical skill. After the war ended Ayer briefly returned to Oxford University. He served as a fellow and Dean of Wadham College before moving to other posts. The experience of wartime intelligence work shaped his understanding of human behavior and information flow. These years provided context for his later philosophical interests in knowledge and perception. The transition from active duty back to academic life occurred smoothly despite the disruption caused by global hostilities. His military service remained a significant chapter in his biography throughout his adult life.

Ayer taught philosophy at University College London from 1946 until 1959. During this period he began appearing regularly on radio and television broadcasts. He functioned as an extrovert who enjoyed dancing and attending clubs in both London and New York. His social connections extended to high society circles and the British establishment. Presiding over Oxford high-tables he often appeared charming yet could be intimidating to others. He maintained close links with powerful figures across multiple sectors of public life. From 1959 until his retirement in 1978 Ayer held the Wykeham Chair Professorship of Logic at Oxford. He received a knighthood as Knight Bachelor announced in the London Gazette on the 1st of January 1970. After retiring from full-time duties he lectured several times in the United States. A visiting professorship at Bard College took place in 1987. At a party hosted by fashion designer Fernando Sanchez that same year he confronted Mike Tyson. The heavyweight champion was forcing himself upon model Naomi Campbell when Ayer demanded they stop. Tyson reportedly asked if Ayer knew who he was before receiving a rational response.

Ayer divided ordinary ethical systems into four distinct classes within his philosophical framework. These included propositions expressing definitions of ethical terms or judgments about their legitimacy. Another class described phenomena of moral experience along with their causes. Exhortations to moral virtue formed a third category while actual ethical judgements made up the fourth. He focused primarily on propositions of the first class regarding moral judgment itself. Propositions of the second class belonged to science according to his analysis. Those of the third were mere commands lacking deeper significance. Ethical concepts could not be translated into non-ethical empirical terms under Ayer's view. This agreement with intuitionists did not extend to appeals for non-empirical moral truths which he called worthless. One person's intuition often contradicted another's making such appeals unreliable. Ayer concluded that ethical concepts were merely pseudo-concepts without real substance. He followed Bertrand Russell in debating religion with Jesuit scholar Frederick Copleston. Ayre stated clearly that theists had largely failed to make their deity concept intelligible. To the extent they succeeded they provided no reason to think anything answered to it.

Ayer became closely associated with the British humanist movement throughout his career. He served as an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association from 1947 until his death. In 1963 he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The following year he became president of the Agnostics' Adoption Society. He also succeeded Julian Huxley as president of the British Humanist Association holding the post until 1970. In 1968 he edited The Humanist Outlook containing essays on meaning and purpose. He chaired the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination in Sport while supporting anti-Vietnam War activism. Ayer supported both the Labour Party and later the Social Democratic Party politically. He served as president of the Homosexual Law Reform Society for a period. As a notorious heterosexual he remarked that he could never be accused of feathering his own nest regarding this cause. His advocacy extended beyond philosophy into direct political engagement on social liberal issues. These activities demonstrated his commitment to secular values and individual freedoms across multiple domains.

In 1988 Ayer wrote an article titled What I saw when I was dead describing a near-death experience. His heart stopped for four minutes after choking on smoked salmon during this event. He first stated that the experience slightly weakened his conviction that genuine death would be the end of him. A few weeks later he revised this position saying it weakened not belief in no life after death but his inflexible attitude toward that belief. He asked A.C. Ewing what he looked forward to most in the afterlife receiving the immediate response about synthetic a priori propositions from God himself. Ayer died on the 27th of June 1989 at age seventy-eight. From 1980 until his death he lived at 51 York Street in Marylebone. A memorial plaque was unveiled there on the 19th of November 1995. His final publications included reflections on meaning and life alongside philosophical essays. The Sunday Telegraph published his account of the near-death event on the 28th of August 1988. It appeared again as The Undiscovered Country in The Meaning Of Life collection published in 1990.

A. J. Ayer.

The Verification Principle And Vienna Circle

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