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| 8824 | No one has defended translational phenomenalism since Ayer in 1940 |
| Full Idea: I know of no serious defence of 'translational phenomenalism' since Ayer's in 1940. | |||
| From: report of A.J. Ayer (The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge [1940]) by Jaegwon Kim - What is 'naturalized epistemology'? 303-4+n | |||
| A reaction: We can think of Ayer as a hero who explored how far extreme empiricism would go. We still have anti-realists who are singing from a revised version of the song-sheet. Personally I am with Russell, that we must embrace the best explanation. |
| 15251 | The attribution of necessity to causation is either primitive animism, or confusion with logical necessity |
| Full Idea: How are we to explain the word 'must' [about causation]? The answer is, I think, that it is either a relic of animism, or else reveals an inclination to treat causal connexion as if it were a form of logical necessity. | |||
| From: A.J. Ayer (The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge [1940], IV.18) | |||
| A reaction: The animism proposal just about makes sense (as a primitive feature of minds), but why would anyone, if they had the time and understanding, dream of treating a regular connection as a 'logical' necessity? |