logical positivism

• what is non-cognitive language

  not used to empirically express knowable facts about the physical world

  can't be held to empirical testing
• cognitive language 


  language used to express knowable facts

  can be empirically tested
• why do some religious people view religious statements as cognitive

  they believe them to be factual and open to testing
• vienna circle 


  a group of philosophers who discussed philosophical matters at vienna university
• analytic statement 


  where reason can tell us whether the statement is true or not
• synthetic statement 


  where observation of the physical world can tell us if the statement is true or not
• meaningless statement 


  any statement that is neither analytic nor synthetic
• verification principle 


  we know what we need to do to check a statement

  all statements are meaningful, but synthetic statements are meaningless
• what does ayer argue

  in order for a statement to be meaningful it has to be empirically tested
• what did logical positivists argue about the verification principle

  there was a problem with it since it was disallowing too much as meaningless
• verification in practice 


  it is practically possible to check the truth or falsity of a claim
• verification in principle 


  the idea that we know what we need to do to check a statement
• strong verification


  conclusive, using empirical evidence, that a statement is true or false
• weak verification 


  empirical evidence suggests a statement is probable, not conclusive
• how does this echo hume

  Ayer quotes hume : "commit it to the flames"

  hume thought theological discussion was a waste of time