How did Ayer react to this statement from David Hume, the great 18th century German philosopher?
"If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity, or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matters of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames. For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion."
How did Ayer react to this statement from David Hume, the great 18th century German philosopher?
"If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity, or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matters of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames. For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion."
What were you drinking when you read Ayer's book?
How did Ayer react to this statement from David Hume, the great 18th century German philosopher?
"If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity, or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matters of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames. For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion."
Ayer regarded Hume's statement as a rhetorical version of his own thesis -- which says that any genuine truth claim has to be either empirically verifiable (testable by sense experience) or analytic (true by definition).