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Logical positivism
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A.J. Ayer Austrian postage stamp featuring a portrait of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, with German text above and below, and a denomination of 5 schillings.
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A.J. Ayer
A.J. Ayer British philosopher A.J. Ayer at his home in London, 1978.

Logical positivism

philosophy
Also known as: Neopositivism, Scientific Empiricism, logical empiricism(Show More)
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Logical positivism, a philosophical movement that arose in Vienna in the 1920s and was characterized by the view that scientific knowledge is the only kind of factual knowledge and that all traditional metaphysical doctrines are to be rejected as meaningless. A brief treatment of logical positivism follows. For full treatment, see positivism: Logical positivism and logical empiricism. Logical positivism differs from earlier forms of empiricism and positivism (e.g., that of David Hume and Ernst Mach)...

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