Sir Alfred Jules Ayer

Sir Alfred Jules Ayer (October 29, 1910 June 27, 1989), better known as A. J. Ayer (or Freddie by his friends), was a British philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books Language, Truth and Logic (1936) and The Problem of Knowledge (1956).

4 Quotes

To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction.
— Sir Alfred Jules Ayer

While moral rules may be propounded by authority the fact that these were so propounded would not validate them.
— Sir Alfred Jules Ayer

The traditional disputes of philosophers are, for the most part, as unwarranted as they are unfruitful.
— Sir Alfred Jules Ayer

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.
— Sir Alfred Jules Ayer