Ayer, Critique of Ethics and Theology

Ayer

Ayer is a logical positivism, propositions need to be verfiable. Ethical propositions are neither true or false.

1) What are the four classes of ethical propositions that have been identified by Ayer? According to Ayer, which of these four classes constitutes ethical philosophy?

The four classes are:

(i) The exploration of meaning of ethical terms

(ii) The study of propositions describing moral experience

(iii) Commands to be moral

(iv) The study of actual moral judgements

Ayer thinks that (ii) is psychology rather than philosophy, (iii) is merely telling us what to do, and thus do not belong in philosophy or science and (iv) is not philosohy to the extent that it does not deal with ethical terms

2) What is the difference between synthetic and analytic propositions?

Analytic propositions are propositions whose truth can be extracted from the proposition itself, self-fufliing propositions, or otherwise by definition. (e.g. Oncologist are doctors, the proposition that oncologists are doctors can be extracted from the propoistion itself). Whereas synthetic propositions require an additional empirical touch for it to be significant.

Synthetic propositions can be empirically verified, but analytic propositions cannnot. Instead, it can be logically verified (just by thinking about it).

3) What is the verification principle and how might it relate to synthetic and/or analytic propositions?

The verification principle is a principle that states that a proposition is meaningful if it can be empirically determined to be true or false. Thus, synthetic propositions are based on the verification principle.

4) Why does Ayer reject both subjectivism and utilitarianism?

Subjectivism seeks to generalized that an ethically right action is approved (psycological part) or otherwise performed. Similarly, utilitarianism seeks to suggest that actions that promote general well-being (non-ethical part) is one that is ethically right. However in both cases, arguments do not follow from their premise in that it is possible for an ethically right action to be not approved/performed