A. J. Ayer Quotes on Knowledge
Alfred Jules Ayer was a British philosopher and the most prominent representative of logical positivism in the English-speaking world. This page collects quotes attributed to A. J. Ayer on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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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:
“It is silly, as well as presumptuous, for any one philosopher to claim that he is bringing the pursuit of truth to its conclusion.”
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“The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940).”
I am using the word " perceive ". I am using it here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word. If there is thought to be a difficulty here, it is perhaps because there is also a correct and familiar usage of the word "perceive", in which to say of an object t -
“Humanist Outlook (1968), p. 4.”
No moral system can rest solely on authority . -
“I see philosophy as a fairly abstract activity, as concerned mainly with the analysis of criticism and concepts, and of course most usefully of scientific concepts.”
As quoted in Profile of Sir Alfred Ayer (June 1971) by Euro-Television, quoted in A.J. Ayer: A Life (1999), p. 2. -
“Philosophy in the Twentieth Century (1982) p. 133.”
There never comes a point where a theory can be said to be true . The most that one can claim for any theory is that it has shared the successes of all its rivals and that it has passed at least one test which they have failed.