PHIL 2180 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Formal Science, Phenomenalism, Empiricism
26 Feb 2016
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Only meaningful philosophical problems are those that can be solved by logical analysis. Inspired by developments in science, logic (main tool), math and philosophy of language. Their views about science were based on a general theory of language: Analytic: sentences, such as ophthalmologists are doctors, whose truth seems to be knowable by knowing the meanings of the fundamental words alone. Synthetic: ophthalmologists are rich, whose truth is knowable by both knowing the meaning of the words and something about the world. Knowing the meaning of a sentence is knowing how to verify it. Therefore, no verification through observation , no meaning. Observational language: the rod is red. observed as sensation. Deductive logic: logic from one or more statements to reach a logically certain conclusion. Inductive logic: reasoning in which the premises seek to supply strong evidence for (not absolute proof of) the truth of the conclusion.
