logical positivism

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epistemological doctrine form of empiricism philosophical movement school of analytic philosophy

Logical positivism is a 20th-century philosophical movement that emphasizes the verification of statements through empirical observation and logical analysis, rejecting metaphysics as cognitively meaningless.

Aliases (3)

logical empiricism ×12
verificationism ×2
logical positivism (partly in reaction) ×1

Statements (54)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	epistemological doctrine → form of empiricism → philosophical movement → school of analytic philosophy →
alternativeName	logical empiricism → neo-positivism →
associatedWork	Language, Truth and Logic → The Logical Structure of the World → The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle →
basedOn	empiricism → formal logic →
corePrinciple	anti-metaphysical stance → distinction between analytic and synthetic statements → emphasis on empirical observation → emphasis on logical analysis of language → meaning of a statement is its method of verification → rejection of metaphysics as cognitively meaningless → scientific worldview → verification principle →
criticizedBy	Karl Popper → Michael Polanyi → Thomas Kuhn → W. V. O. Quine →
declinePeriod	mid-20th century →
developedByGroup	Berlin Circle → Vienna Circle →
emergedInCentury	20th century →
historicalPeak	1920s → 1930s →
influencedBy	Bertrand Russell → David Hume → Ernst Mach → Gottlob Frege → Ludwig Wittgenstein →
influencedByWork	Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus →
keyFigure	A. J. Ayer → Hans Reichenbach → Herbert Feigl → Kurt Gödel → Moritz Schlick → Otto Neurath → Philipp Frank → Rudolf Carnap →
legacy	contributed to linguistic turn in philosophy → influenced philosophy of science → shaped analytic philosophy →
methodologicalStance	reduction of theoretical terms to observational terms → unification of science →
philosophicalDomain	epistemology → philosophy of language → philosophy of science →
positionOnEthics	ethical statements are expressions of emotion or attitude →
positionOnMetaphysics	metaphysical statements are meaningless →
positionOnTheology	theological statements lack cognitive meaning →

Referenced by (34)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
A. J. Ayer → Carl Hempel ("logical empiricism") → Carl Hempel → Hans Reichenbach ("logical empiricism") → Hans Reichenbach → Herbert Feigl ("logical empiricism") → Language, Truth and Logic → Otto Neurath → Otto Neurath ("logical empiricism") → Otto Neurath ("logical empiricism") → Otto Neurath → Rudolf Carnap → The Logical Syntax of Language → The Logical Syntax of Language ("logical empiricism") →	movement
A Treatise of Human Nature → Auguste Comte → Bertrand Russell → Occam's razor → Principia Mathematica → logical atomism → picture theory of language →	influenced
Bloomfieldian structuralism → Chomskyan linguistics ("logical positivism (partly in reaction)") → Otto Neurath ("logical empiricism") → Philosophical Foundations of Physics →	influencedBy
Logical Foundations of Probability ("logical empiricism") → The Logical Syntax of Language ("logical empiricism") →	mainTopic
Berlin Circle ("verificationism") → Vienna Circle ("verificationism") →	philosophicalStance
logical positivism ("logical empiricism") →	alternativeName
unity of science →	hasHistoricalMovement
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent ("logical empiricism") →	hasInfluenced
falsificationism →	opposes
The Logical Structure of the World ("logical empiricism") →	philosophicalMovement