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
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 A, B, C,…, logically implies an observation sentence that is not implied by A, B, C….
S is indirectly verifiable if and only if S, perhaps in conjunction with other sentences P, Q, R,… logically implies a directly verifiable sentence D that is not implied by P, Q, R,…. Furthermore, these sentences P, Q, R 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 (O3&¬S)
Premise 2: O1
Conclusion: (O3&¬S)
Hence (1) and O1 together imply O3. Hence (1) must be directly verifiable.
Now take S and (1)
Premise 1: (¬O1&O2) v (O3&¬S)
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 (O3&¬S) (since O2 is already implied in (¬O1&O2))
If this is the case, then ¬S becomes directly verifiable.
Hence, you can take any statement S and show that it is either indirectly or its negation is directly verifiable.