A. J. Ayer Quotes
Alfred Jules Ayer was a British philosopher and the most prominent representative of logical positivism in the English-speaking world. Having spent time with the Vienna Circle while still in his early twenties, he returned to Oxford and published Language, Truth and Logic at twenty-six, an uncompromising defense of the verification principle and an emotivist analysis of ethics that became one of the most widely read philosophy books of the century. The quotes below are attributed to A. J. Ayer, organized by topic.
A. J. Ayer on Truth
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Attributed to A. J. Ayer:
“No statement which refers to a reality transcending the limits of all possible sense-experience can have any literal significance.”
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Attributed to A. J. Ayer:
“The presence of an ethical symbol in a proposition adds nothing to its factual content.”
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Attributed to A. J. Ayer:
“I tend to think that art expresses what cannot be put into theoretical form.”
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Attributed to A. J. Ayer:
“It is silly, as well as presumptuous, for any one philosopher to claim that he is bringing the pursuit of truth to its conclusion.”
A. J. Ayer on Virtue
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Attributed to A. J. Ayer:
“There are no moral truths, but only moral attitudes.”