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Definition:
Developed by the "Vienna Circle" during the 1920s and 30s, this philosophy was
developed in an attempt to systematize empiricism in light of developments in math and
philosophy. The term itself was first used by Albert Blumberg and Herbert Feigl in 1931.
For logical positivists, the entire discipline of philosophy was centered one task: to clarify the meanings of concepts and ideas. This, in turn, led them to inquire just what "meaning" was and what sorts of statements really did have any "meaning" in the first place. According to logical positivism, there are only two sorts of statements which have meaning. The first encompassed necessary truths of logic, mathematics and ordinary language. The second encompassed empirical propositions about the world around us and which were not necessary truths - instead, they could only be regarded as "true" with greater or lesser probability.
The most famous doctrine of logical positivism is its verifiability principle, developed as a means for identifying the second of the above two types of statements. According to this principle, the validity and meaning of any proposition is dependent upon whether or not it can be verified. Thus, a statement which cannot be verified is held to be automatically invalid and meaningless.
This became for many people a basis for attack on metaphysics, theology and religion because those systems of thought make many statements which cannot, in principle, be verified in any way. These propositions might qualify as expressions of one's emotional state, at best - but nothing else.
Also Known As: logical empiricism
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
What is the Philosophy of Science?
The Philosophy of Science is concerned with, obviously enough, science - specifically, how science operates, what the goals of science should be, what relationship science should have with the rest of society, the differences between science and other activities, etc. Everything that happens in science has some relationship with the Philosophy of Science and is predicated upon some philosophical position, even though that may be rarely evident.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
