Logical Positivism & its Legacy - A. J. Ayer & Bryan Magee (1977)

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2 жыл бұрын

In this program, A. J. Ayer discusses logical positivism with Bryan Magee. This is from a 1977 series on Modern Philosophy called Men of Ideas. You can find Ayer's famous book, "Language, Truth, & Logic", here: archive.org/details/in.ernet....
#Philosophy #Ayer #Epistemology

Пікірлер: 160

@danielkellyuk Жыл бұрын

Does logical positivism have an explanation for why 1970s TV was so brown?

@filopon7116 2 жыл бұрын

positivism is the dark age of intellect

@cheogrady Жыл бұрын

And any man who pulls out a cigarette on television and smokes it - then or now - is a BOSS!

@ERACISMneworleans1 Жыл бұрын

He was brilliant and highly influential. I read Language, Truth, and Logic before I saw him give a talk in 1962 at UMASS.

@paololuckyluke2854

Ayer might have been surprised to find out that not all bachelors are unmarried males. Not anymore at least.

@philipdubuque9596 Жыл бұрын

Ayer comes off as having a balanced and refreshingly honest reappraisal of logical positivism and caps this with an interesting comment about its relation to Willian James' pragmatism. The fact that he went straight to Vienna (rather that referencing Wittgenstein and/or Russell directly or for that matter Frege) yields a valuable perspective. His comment regarding Ernst Mach's debt to David Hume is also a valuable connection worth further exploration. Kudos to Mr. Magee for being such an erudite interlocutor in this discussion.

@sfopera Жыл бұрын

It's just wonderful to hear the brilliant Ayer speak at length this way for the general public! It inspires me to try to revisit his work with a fresh mind. An intelligence officer during WWII, Ayer has every form of courage and brilliance to bring to ideas. And compared to the dour Nazi Heidegger, he's a beacon of clarity.

@annehebert510 Жыл бұрын

People controlled their anxiety in those days through smoking, it allowed you to focus the mind while giving you something to do with your hands. Since smoking levels have dropped, anxiety levels have shot up in our society.

@maxw89

Why are there no shows like this anymore? A televised long-form series on modern philosophy? Are you kidding me? Bring it back

@haimbenavraham1502 Жыл бұрын

I love how he's trying to get a puff, between logistics.. Very brilliant and a pleasure to see and listen to.

@enochlule2698

Mr. Magee! Its stunning and rare to see a man so comfortable with his subject matter. And his interview skills are extraordinary, he clearly knows what he would like discussed, allows the interviewee to say it and only interjects, in a way not bringing attention to himself, to add meat when what was served was too lean. Very enjoyable!

@Onosecond Жыл бұрын

i love the nonchalance with which Freddie lights up... different era!

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for all these uploads! I did my degree in Philosophy before heading to Japan. Our lecturer used to say AJ Ayer was like the biggest thing to a philosophical rock star when he was a lad. We read Language, Truth and Logic on campus, but this is the first time I’ve seen or heard him speak. Thanks again for the upload!

@richardatkinson4710 Жыл бұрын

Absolutely amazing. This tells me everything I could hope to know about logical positivism. Just before Wittgenstein wrote his “Whereof we cannot speak.. .” dictum, he wrote that we may only speak about scientific truths. That seems to be roughly where Ayer - sparkling, fully conversant with the field - ends up. Wonderful. Thank you.

@salvespampuarw8479 Жыл бұрын

This discution was so amazing, both of them where amizing man

@BrightAgeBeyond Жыл бұрын

Super interview, thanks.

@ericb9804 2 жыл бұрын

Great to hear him connect logical positivism directly to pragmatism via William James. Neo-Pragmatism is what was built on the ground cleared by logical positivists.