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The Main Philosophical Tenets of Logical Positivism
The Main Philosophical Tenets of Logical Positivism
With respect to the method of ascertaining their truth or falsity, the statements of a scientific theory are divided in two sets: 1. Analytic a priori statements, whose truth is based on the meaning of the terms of the language. They include logical statements, whose truth is based only on the rules of logic and mathematics. 2. Synthetic a posteriori statements, which are the not-analytic statements. Another distinction is between: 1. Ax-true or Ax-false statements, which are either a logical consequence of the axioms of the theory or incompatible with the axioms. 2. Contingent statements, which are independent from the axioms of the theory.
The following table represents the diverse kinds of statements. True False Ax-false Analytic a priori false Logical false Ax-true Contingent Analytic a priori Synthetic a posteriori true Logical true Possible The main points of this thesis about the structure of scientific theories are: The distinction between observational and theoretical terms The distinction between synthetic and analytic statements The distinction between theoretical axioms and rules of correspondence The deductive nature of scientific theories.
These four points are linked together. Rules of correspondence give an empirical meaning to theoretical terms and are analytic, while theoretical axioms express the empirical portion of the theory and are synthetic. A theory must be a deductive system; otherwise, a formal distinction between the various kinds of sentences and terms is impossible.