Ayer's starting point is wrong. A proposition must not be provable in order to be meaningful. Gödel's incompleteness theorem proves that in any "sufficiently" complex logical system, there exist propositions, which are not provable nor refutable. For example, Cantor's continuum hypothesis is a meaningful mathematical proposition, which may not be proven nor refuted.
The tools of philosophy can still be brought to bear on moral claims, because sociology and psychology make GENERAL scientific/epistemic/ontological (meaningful) claims about human behavior (including emotional outbursts).
Moral theories attempt to extend "in-group" values into GENERAL claims. This might be a doomed project (Ayer would say so), ...but if human behavior can be generalized, then there may be way to treat ALL humans as "in-group".
Ayer's starting point is wrong. A proposition must not be provable in order to be meaningful. Gödel's incompleteness theorem proves that in any "sufficiently" complex logical system, there exist propositions, which are not provable nor refutable. For example, Cantor's continuum hypothesis is a meaningful mathematical proposition, which may not be proven nor refuted.
bhigr 1 year ago
The tools of philosophy can still be brought to bear on moral claims, because sociology and psychology make GENERAL scientific/epistemic/ontological (meaningful) claims about human behavior (including emotional outbursts).
Moral theories attempt to extend "in-group" values into GENERAL claims. This might be a doomed project (Ayer would say so), ...but if human behavior can be generalized, then there may be way to treat ALL humans as "in-group".
So the question of Human Nature looms large.
.
homerthompsonman 1 year ago
good video, its helped a fair bit :) thank you
KosAAAGH 2 years ago
Comment removed
kalelex 2 years ago