kennethamy

Name is (was) A. J. Ayer. What he meant was an emotive utterance like, "Wow!", or "Blah!".

B.S. Lewis

I've heard about him only in the context of a political science class, so I wasn't sure if you philosophy guys were familiar with him.

P.S. - thanks for explaining my own quote to me

kennethamy

Before World War 2, when Ayer was about 23 he went to Vienna to attend the Vienna Circle many of whose members were the original Logical Positivists. When he returned to England he wrote Language, Truth, and Logic which made the English-speaking world aware of Logical Positivism. The central thesis of logical positivism was that unless a statement was verifiable by sense-perception, it was cognitively meaningless. It was neither true nor false. Then what about ethical sentences (or theological, for that matter)? Well since they were not verifiable, they were cognitively meaningless. And ethical sentences had to understood as emotive utterances. So that, "Bill is a very good man" really meant something like, "Hooray for Bill!" This view was known as the emotivist theory of ethics.

jacheatamobits

So, the aim of philosophy is apparently not as important as who has developed the most "influential" ideas, right?

The pinnacle of human thought lies not in the past, but right now, in the present. Never, until now, has there been this much potential for anyone seeking to enlighten others through "influential" thought.

(The more humans = the more potential, IMO)

Therefore, the most influential philosopher is alive, and well, actualizing this potential, as we speak (type), and it seems that anyone who might rival that person would have to contend only with that person's life-span, rather than his/her ideas.

I vote for the Rza, the Gza, Ghost Face Killer, Inspecta Deck, and the Method Man!:Cheeky: