logical empericism
CHAPTER XIV
Logical Empiricism
There are many strange sentences that men use. Compare these two: (1) Wheat is a major crop in Kansas, and (2) the fountain of youth is located in Kansas. Each has a subject, a verb, and a predicate. The first sentence is regarded as true in a matter-of-fact way. The second one may bring a smile or wrinkle to your face. Why the two reactions? Why is one regarded as true and the other as fiction? How can we speak of the non-existent in the same way as the existent? A vast literature involving the novel in its various forms depends upon the use of language implying its truth.
Nevertheless, there are other sentences that may be more serious and widely believed, but not so easily seen as false. The point is: the sentences themselves give no clues on whether they are true or false, or refer to something real or unreal. What can be said about all of this?
Some philosophers became intensely interested in the subject of language around the turn of the century. Naturally throughout the centuries of philosophy, thinkers had also been interested in precise meanings, clarification, and communication. At the turn of the century a variety of philosophers as well as other thinkers became interested in understanding the use and function of language itself. Bertrand Russell and Alfred N. Whitehead published their work, Principia Mathematica, which is regarded as a landmark work for the new direction that many philosophers would go for the next decade or two.
However, it was an Austrian, Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose inspiration and influence motivated a group of scholars known as the Vienna Circle, which was organized in the early l920s.1Wittgenstein's work, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was generally accepted by the Vienna Circle although it has some "mystical" or quasi-religious tendencies that were usually rejected by the Circle. Actually, it has been shown that Wittgenstein was not anti-mystical, nor anti-metaphysical in the
Logical Empiricism
There are many strange sentences that men use. Compare these two: (1) Wheat is a major crop in Kansas, and (2) the fountain of youth is located in Kansas. Each has a subject, a verb, and a predicate. The first sentence is regarded as true in a matter-of-fact way. The second one may bring a smile or wrinkle to your face. Why the two reactions? Why is one regarded as true and the other as fiction? How can we speak of the non-existent in the same way as the existent? A vast literature involving the novel in its various forms depends upon the use of language implying its truth.
Nevertheless, there are other sentences that may be more serious and widely believed, but not so easily seen as false. The point is: the sentences themselves give no clues on whether they are true or false, or refer to something real or unreal. What can be said about all of this?
Some philosophers became intensely interested in the subject of language around the turn of the century. Naturally throughout the centuries of philosophy, thinkers had also been interested in precise meanings, clarification, and communication. At the turn of the century a variety of philosophers as well as other thinkers became interested in understanding the use and function of language itself. Bertrand Russell and Alfred N. Whitehead published their work, Principia Mathematica, which is regarded as a landmark work for the new direction that many philosophers would go for the next decade or two.
However, it was an Austrian, Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose inspiration and influence motivated a group of scholars known as the Vienna Circle, which was organized in the early l920s.1Wittgenstein's work, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was generally accepted by the Vienna Circle although it has some "mystical" or quasi-religious tendencies that were usually rejected by the Circle. Actually, it has been shown that Wittgenstein was not anti-mystical, nor anti-metaphysical in the