Subscribe to ForumIAS

Philosophy Optional :- Explanation of Alonzo Church's logic for refutation of Weak Verification of Ayer

I can't get the logic correctly. would be really helpful if someone can point towards a step-by-step explanation for it. 

PS :- please suggest a group for discussion for philosophy optional 

Saint_1
3.1k views

4 comments

Where have you read this from? Can you refer me to the source? I have not read about it. 
2.2k views

Recall what Ayer means by direct and indirect verification:

S is directly verifiable iff either S is an observation sentence or else S, perhaps in conjunction with other observation sentences ABC,…, logically implies an observation sentence that is not implied by ABC….


S is indirectly verifiable if and only if S, perhaps in conjunction with other sentences PQR,… logically implies a directly verifiable sentence D that is not implied by PQR,…. Furthermore, these sentences PQR are each either analytic or directly verifiable.


Now, take this proposition, lets call it (1):

 (¬O1&O2) v (O3&¬S)    ( ¬ means Not, v means Or, & means And)

O1, O2, O3 are some observation statements, S is any statement. 

Now take (1) and O1:


Premise 1: O1&O2) v (O3S)

Premise 2: O1

Conclusion: (O3S

Hence (1) and O1 together imply O3. Hence (1) must be directly verifiable. 


Now take S and (1)

Premise 1: O1&O2) v (O3S)

Premise 2: S

Conclusion: O1&O2)

Hence S and (1) together imply O2. Therefore now S is indirectly verifiable. 
But S will not be indirectly verifiable if O2 is implied only by (1) alone.

But if that is the case, O2 must follow from (O3S) (since O2 is already implied in O1&O2))

If this is the case, then ¬becomes directly verifiable.


Hence, you can take any statement S and show that it is either indirectly or its negation is directly verifiable. 

2.2k views

On a side note, there is no point remembering such complicated criticisms. There won't be much time and space in the exam for writing them.


Regarding discussion, i do not know of any groups as such. But I am willing to discuss doubts, questions etc. here on forum itself. 

2.2k views
Write your comment…