View source for Biography:A. J. Ayer

{{short description|English philosopher (1910–1989)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| name             =Sir A. J. Ayer
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FBA}}
| image            = Alfred Jules Ayer.png
| birth_name       = Alfred Jules Ayer
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1910|10|29|df=y}}
| birth_place      = London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1989|06|27|1910|10|29|df=y}}
| death_place      = London, England
| alma_mater       = Christ Church, Oxford
| awards           = Knight Bachelor (1970)
| era              = [[Philosophy:20th-century philosophy|20th-century philosophy]]
| region           = [[Philosophy:Western philosophy|Western philosophy]]
| school_tradition = {{cslist | [[Philosophy:Analytic philosophy|Analytic philosophy]] | [[Philosophy:Logical positivism|logical positivism]]}}
| institutions     = {{ubl | Christ Church, Oxford | Wadham College, Oxford | University College, London | [[Organization:New College, Oxford|New College, Oxford]]}}
| academic_advisors = [[Biography:Gilbert Ryle|Gilbert Ryle]]<ref name=SEP />
| main_interests   = {{cslist | [[Philosophy:Philosophy of language|Philosophy of language]] | [[Philosophy:Epistemology|epistemology]] | ethics | [[Philosophy:Meaning|theory of meaning]] | [[Philosophy:Philosophy of science|philosophy of science]]}}
| notable_ideas    = {{cslist | Verification principle | emotivist ethics}}
}}
'''Sir Alfred Jules''' "'''Freddie'''" '''Ayer''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FBA}} ({{IPAc-en|ɛər}} {{respell|AIR}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ayer "Ayer"]. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.</ref> 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989)<ref name="BioDict20CPhil">{{cite book |last=Quinton |first=Anthony |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict0000unse_b8m6/page/37/mode/1up |title=Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers |publisher=Routledge |year=1996 |isbn=0-415-06043-5 |location=London |pages=37–39 |chapter=Ayer, Alfred Jules |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> was an English philosopher known for his promotion of [[Philosophy:Logical positivism|logical positivism]], particularly in his books ''[[Philosophy:Language, Truth, and Logic|Language, Truth, and Logic]]'' (1936) and ''The Problem of Knowledge'' (1956).

Ayer was educated at [[Organization:Eton College|Eton College]] and the [[Organization:University of Oxford|University of Oxford]], after which he studied the philosophy of logical positivism at the [[Organization:University of Vienna|University of Vienna]]. From 1933 to 1940 he lectured on philosophy at Christ Church, Oxford.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://biography.yourdictionary.com/alfred-jules-ayer|title= Alfred Jules Ayer Facts|publisher= Your Dictionary|access-date = 18 April 2015}}</ref>

During the Second World War Ayer was a Special Operations Executive and MI6 agent.<ref>{{cite book |title=The politics of apolitical culture: the Congress for Cultural Freedom, the CIA, and post-war American hegemony |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |author=Scott-Smith, Giles |page=109 |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-24445-9}}</ref>

Ayer was Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic at [[Organization:University College London|University College London]] from 1946 until 1959, after which he returned to Oxford to become Wykeham Professor of Logic at [[Organization:New College, Oxford|New College]].<ref name=SEP>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Alfred Jules Ayer|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ayer/|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=15 April 2016|date=2005}}</ref> He was president of the [[Philosophy:Aristotelian Society|Aristotelian Society]] from 1951 to 1952 and knighted in 1970. He was known for his advocacy of [[Philosophy:Humanism|humanism]], and was the second president of the British Humanist Association (now known as Humanists UK).

Ayer was president of the Homosexual Law Reform Society for a time; he remarked, "as a notorious heterosexual I could never be accused of feathering my own nest."

== Life ==
Ayer was born in St John's Wood, in north west London, to Jules Louis Cyprien Ayer and Reine (née Citroen), wealthy parents from [[Earth:Continental Europe|continental Europe]]. His mother was from the Dutch-Jewish family that founded the [[Company:Citroën|Citroën]] car company in France; his father was a Swiss Calvinist financier who worked for the [[Finance:Rothschild family|Rothschild family]], including for their bank and as secretary to Alfred Rothschild.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ajayerlife00roge|title=A.J. Ayer: A Life|author=Rogers, Ben|publisher=Vintage|year=2000|isbn=978-0-09-953681-9|location=London|ol=6782148M|orig-year=1999}}</ref><ref>[[Biography:Anthony Quinton|Anthony Quinton]], [https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/94p255.pdf Alfred Jules Ayer]. ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', '''94''' (1996), pp. 255–282.</ref><ref name="nytimes.com">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/29/world/c-a-j-ayer-dead-in-britain-at-78-philosopher-of-logical-positivism-914989.html|title = A. J. Ayer Dead in Britain at 78; Philosopher of Logical Positivism|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 29 June 1989|last1 = Pace|first1 = Eric}}</ref>

Ayer was educated at Ascham St Vincent's School, a former boarding preparatory school for boys in the seaside town of Eastbourne in Sussex, where he started boarding at the relatively early age of seven for reasons to do with the [[Social:World War I|First World War]], and at [[Organization:Eton College|Eton College]], where he was a King's Scholar. At Eton Ayer first became known for his characteristic bravado and precocity. Though primarily interested in his intellectual pursuits, he was very keen on sports, particularly rugby, and reputedly played the Eton Wall Game very well.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ajayerlife00roge|url-access=registration|title=A.J. Ayer: A Life|author=Rogers, Ben|publisher=Vintage|year=2000|isbn=978-0-09-953681-9|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ajayerlife00roge/page/42 42]–44|ol=6782148M|orig-year=1999}}</ref> In the final examinations at Eton, Ayer came second in his year, and first in classics. In his final year, as a member of Eton's senior council, he unsuccessfully campaigned for the abolition of corporal punishment at the school. He won a classics scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated with a BA with first-class honours.

After graduating from Oxford, Ayer spent a year in Vienna, returned to England and published his first book, ''Language, Truth and Logic'', in 1936. The first exposition in English of [[Philosophy:Logical positivism|logical positivism]] as newly developed by the [[Philosophy:Vienna Circle|Vienna Circle]], this made Ayer at age 26 the ''enfant terrible'' of British philosophy. As a newly famous intellectual, he played a prominent role in the Oxford by-election campaign of 1938.<ref name=":0" /> Ayer campaigned first for the Labour candidate Patrick Gordon Walker, and then for the joint Labour-Liberal "Independent Progressive" candidate [[Biography:Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker|Sandie Lindsay]], who ran on an anti-appeasement platform against the Conservative candidate, Quintin Hogg, who ran as the appeasement candidate.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Rogers |first1=Ben |url=https://archive.org/details/ajayerlife00roge |title=A.J. Ayer A Life |date=1999 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=9780099536819 |location=New York}}</ref> The by-election, held on 27 October 1938, was quite close, with Hogg winning narrowly.<ref name=":0" />

In the Second World War, Ayer served as an officer in the Welsh Guards, chiefly in intelligence (Special Operations Executive (SOE) and MI6<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/21/mi6-first-authorised-history |location=London |work =The Guardian |first=Richard |last=Norton-Taylor |title=Graham Greene, Arthur Ransome and Somerset Maugham all spied for Britain, admits MI6 |date=21 September 2010}}</ref>). He was commissioned second lieutenant into the Welsh Guards from Officer Cadet Training Unit on 21 September 1940.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34957 |supp=y|page=5776|date=27 September 1940}}</ref>

After the war, Ayer briefly returned to the [[Organization:University of Oxford|University of Oxford]] where he became a fellow and Dean of Wadham College. He then taught philosophy at [[Organization:University College London|University College London]] from 1946 until 1959, when he also started to appear on radio and television. He was an extrovert and social mixer who liked dancing and attending clubs in London and New York. He was also obsessed with sport: he had played rugby for Eton, and was a noted cricketer and a keen supporter of Tottenham Hotspur football team, where he was for many years a season ticket holder.<ref>''Radio Times'' article by Tim Heald, 20–26 August 1977</ref> For an academic, Ayer was an unusually well-connected figure in his time, with close links to 'high society' and the establishment. Presiding over Oxford high-tables, he is often described as charming, but could also be intimidating.<ref>{{cite book |title=Iris Murdoch as I knew her |first=A. N. |last=Wilson |publisher=Hutchinson |year=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/irismurdochasikn00wils/page/156 156] |location=London |isbn=978-0-09-174246-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/irismurdochasikn00wils/page/156 }}</ref>

Ayer was married four times to three women.<ref name="ODNB">{{harvnb|Wollheim|2011}}</ref> His first marriage was from 1932 to 1941, to (Grace Isabel) Renée, with whom he had a son—allegedly the son of Ayer's friend and colleague [[Biography:Stuart Hampshire|Stuart Hampshire]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-worst-crime-was-to-be-a-bore-|title=The worst crime was to be a bore &#124; the Spectator|date=2 July 2011 }}</ref>—and a daughter.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Renée subsequently married Hampshire.<ref name="ODNB"/> In 1960, Ayer married Alberta Constance (Dee) Wells, with whom he had one son.<ref name="ODNB"/> That marriage was dissolved in 1983, and the same year, Ayer married Vanessa Salmon, the former wife of politician [[Biography:Nigel Lawson|Nigel Lawson]]. She died in 1985, and in 1989 Ayer remarried Wells, who survived him.<ref name="ODNB"/> He also had a daughter with Hollywood columnist Sheilah Graham Westbrook.<ref name="ODNB"/>
 
In 1950, Ayer attended the founding meeting of the Congress for Cultural Freedom in West Berlin, though he later said he went only because of the offer of a "free trip".<ref name=":4">{{cite book |last1=Coleman |first1=Peter |title=The Liberal Conspiracy |date=1989 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=9780029064818 |page=28}}</ref> He gave a speech on why [[Biography:John Stuart Mill|John Stuart Mill]]'s conceptions of liberty and freedom were still valid in the 20th century.<ref name=":4" /> Together with the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, Ayer fought against [[Biography:Arthur Koestler|Arthur Koestler]] and Franz Borkenau, arguing that they were far too dogmatic and extreme in their anti-communism, in fact proposing illiberal measures in the defense of liberty.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Coleman |first1=Peter |title=The Liberal Conspiracy |date=1989 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=9780029064818 |pages=30–32}}</ref> Adding to the tension was the location in West Berlin, together with the fact that the Korean War began on 25 June 1950, the fourth day of the congress, giving a feeling that the world was on the brink of war.<ref name=":1" />

From 1959 to his retirement in 1978, Ayer held the Wykeham Chair, Professor of Logic at Oxford. He was knighted in 1970. After his retirement, Ayer taught or lectured several times in the United States, including as a visiting professor at [[Organization:Bard College|Bard College]] in 1987. At a party that same year held by fashion designer Fernando Sanchez, Ayer confronted Mike Tyson, who was forcing himself upon the then little-known model Naomi Campbell. When Ayer demanded that Tyson stop, Tyson reportedly asked, "Do you know who the fuck I am? I'm the heavyweight champion of the world", to which Ayer replied, "And I am the former Wykeham Professor of Logic. We are both preeminent in our field. I suggest that we talk about this like rational men". Ayer and Tyson then began to talk, allowing Campbell to slip out.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=D26bGPQw0GsC&q=naomi Rogers (1999), p. 344].</ref> Ayer was also involved in politics, including anti-Vietnam War activism, supporting the Labour Party (and later the Social Democratic Party), chairing the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination in Sport, and serving as president of the Homosexual Law Reform Society.<ref name="SEP" />

In 1988, a year before his death, Ayer wrote an article titled "What I saw when I was dead", describing an unusual [[Biology:Near-death experience|near-death experience]] after his heart stopped for four minutes after choking on smoked salmon.<ref>Ayer, A. J. (28 August 1988). [http://www.philosopher.eu/others-writings/a-j-ayer-what-i-saw-when-i-was-dead/ "What I Saw When I Was Dead"]. ''The Sunday Telegraph''. Reprinted as "The Undiscovered Country" in ''The Meaning Of Life'' (1990) and ''The Philosophy of A. J. Ayer'' (1992)</ref> Of the experience, he first said that it "slightly weakened my conviction that my genuine death&nbsp;... will be the end of me, though I continue to hope that it will be."<ref>{{citation|last=Lougrhan |first=Gerry |title=Can There Be Life After Life? Ask the Atheist! |date=18 March 2001 }}</ref> A few weeks later, he revised this, saying, "what I should have said is that my experiences have weakened, not my belief that there is no life after death, but my inflexible attitude towards that belief".<ref>Ayer, A. J. (15 October 1988). [https://web.archive.org/web/20180312132749/http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/15th-october-1988/13/postscript-to-a-postmortem "POSTSCRIPT TO A POSTMORTEM"]. ''The Spectator''. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Reprinted in ''The Meaning Of Life'' (1990) and ''The Philosophy of A. J. Ayer'' (1992)</ref>

Ayer died on 27 June 1989. From 1980 to 1989 he lived at 51 York Street, Marylebone, where a memorial plaque was unveiled on 19 November 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/leisureandculture/greenplaques/ |title=City of Westminster green plaques|access-date=2011-07-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716210428/http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/leisureandculture/greenplaques/ |archive-date=16 July 2012 }}</ref>

== Philosophical ideas ==
In ''Language, Truth and Logic'' (1936), Ayer presents the verification principle as the only valid basis for philosophy. Unless logical or empirical verification is possible, statements like "God exists" or "charity is good" are not true or untrue but meaningless, and may thus be excluded or ignored. Religious language in particular is unverifiable and as such literally nonsense. He also criticises C. A. Mace's opinion<ref>"Representation and Expression," Analysis, Vol.1, No.3; "Metaphysics and Emotive Language," Analysis Vol. II, nos. 1 and 2,</ref> that metaphysics is a form of intellectual poetry.<ref>Ayer A. J. Language, Truth and Logic 1946/1952, New York/Dover</ref> The stance that a belief in God denotes no verifiable hypothesis is sometimes referred to as [[Philosophy:Ignosticism|igtheism]] (for example, by [[Biography:Paul Kurtz|Paul Kurtz]]).<ref>{{cite book |title= The New Skepticism: Inquiry and Reliable Knowledge |page=194 |author=Kurtz, Paul |year=1992 |publisher=Prometheus |location =Buffalo, NY |isbn= 978-0-87975-766-3}}</ref> In later years, Ayer reiterated that he did not believe in God<ref>"I do not believe in God. It seems to me that theists of all kinds have very largely failed to make their concept of a deity intelligible; and to the extent that they have made it intelligible, they have given us no reason to think that anything answers to it." Ayer, A.J. (1966). "What I Believe," ''Humanist'', Vol.81 (8) August, p. 226.</ref> and began to call himself an atheist.<ref>"I trust that my remaining an atheist will allay the anxieties of my fellow supporters of the British Humanist Association, the Rationalist Press Association and the South Place Ethical Society." (Ayer 1989, p. 12)</ref> He followed in the footsteps of [[Biography:Bertrand Russell|Bertrand Russell]] by debating religion with the Jesuit scholar [[Biography:Frederick Copleston|Frederick Copleston]].

Ayer's version of [[Philosophy:Emotivism|emotivism]] divides "the ordinary system of ethics" into four classes:
#"Propositions that express definitions of ethical terms, or judgements about the legitimacy or possibility of certain definitions"
#"Propositions describing the phenomena of moral experience, and their causes"
#"Exhortations to moral virtue"
#"Actual ethical judgments"<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Ayer |first=A. J. |url=http://archive.org/details/20191003languagetruthandlogic |title=Language, truth, and logic |year=1952 |pages=103, 106 |chapter=Ch. VI. Critique of Ethics and Theology |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/20191003languagetruthandlogic/page/n98/mode/1up}}</ref>
He focuses on propositions of the first class—moral judgments—saying that those of the second class belong to science, those of the third are mere commands, and those of the fourth (which are considered [[Philosophy:Normative ethics|normative ethics]] as opposed to [[Philosophy:Meta-ethics|meta-ethics]]) are too concrete for ethical philosophy.

Ayer argues that moral judgments cannot be translated into non-ethical, empirical terms and thus cannot be verified; in this he agrees with [[Philosophy:Ethical intuitionism|ethical intuitionists]]. But he differs from intuitionists by discarding appeals to intuition of non-empirical moral truths as "worthless"<ref name=":2" /> since the intuition of one person often contradicts that of another. Instead, Ayer concludes that ethical concepts are "mere pseudo-concepts":

{{Blockquote|The presence of an ethical symbol in a proposition adds nothing to its factual content. Thus if I say to someone, "You acted wrongly in stealing that money," I am not stating anything more than if I had simply said, "You stole that money." In adding that this action is wrong I am not making any further statement about it. I am simply evincing my moral disapproval of it. It is as if I had said, "You stole that money," in a peculiar tone of horror, or written it with the addition of some special exclamation marks. … If now I generalise my previous statement and say, "Stealing money is wrong," I produce a sentence that has no factual meaning—that is, expresses no proposition that can be either true or false. … I am merely expressing certain moral sentiments.|author=A. J. Ayer|title=Language Truth and Logic|source=Ch. VI. Critique of Ethics and Theology}}

Between 1945 and 1947, together with Russell and [[Biography:George Orwell|George Orwell]], Ayer contributed a series of articles to ''Polemic'', a short-lived British "Magazine of Philosophy, Psychology, and Aesthetics" edited by the ex-Communist Humphrey Slater.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arthistorical-notes-where-are-the-hirsts-of-the-1930s-now-1184514.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125060741/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/arthistorical-notes-where-are-the-hirsts-of-the-1930s-now-1184514.html |archive-date=2012-01-25 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title= Where are the Hirsts of the 1930s now? |work=The Independent |location =London |date=13 November 1998 |author=Buckman, David}}</ref><ref name="Absent Minds">{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/absentmindsintel00coll |url-access= registration |page= [https://archive.org/details/absentmindsintel00coll/page/396 396] |title= Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain |author= Collini, Stefan |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |isbn= 978-0-19-929105-2}}</ref>

Ayer was closely associated with the British [[Philosophy:Secular humanism|humanist]] movement. He was an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association from 1947 until his death. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1963.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=28 April 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110510021801/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf| archive-date= 10 May 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref> In 1965, he became the first president of the Agnostics' Adoption Society and in the same year succeeded [[Biography:Julian Huxley|Julian Huxley]] as president of the British Humanist Association, a post he held until 1970. In 1968 he edited ''The Humanist Outlook'', a collection of essays on the meaning of humanism. He was one of the signers of the [[Philosophy:Humanist Manifesto II|Humanist Manifesto]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II |title=Humanist Manifesto II |publisher=American Humanist Association |access-date=4 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020110719/http://www.americanhumanist.org/humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II |archive-date=20 October 2012 }}</ref>

== Works ==
Ayer is best known for popularising the verification principle, in particular through his presentation of it in ''[[Philosophy:Language, Truth, and Logic|Language, Truth, and Logic]]''. The principle was at the time at the heart of the debates of the so-called [[Philosophy:Vienna Circle|Vienna Circle]], which Ayer had visited as a young guest. Others, including the circle's leading light, [[Biography:Moritz Schlick|Moritz Schlick]], were already writing papers on the issue.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schlick |first=Moritz |url=http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk/moritz.htm |title=Unanswerable Questions |journal=The Philosopher |publisher=The Philosophical Society of England |volume=XIII |year=1935 |access-date=4 November 2011}}</ref> Ayer's formulation was that a sentence can be meaningful only if it has verifiable empirical import; otherwise, it is either "analytical" if [[Philosophy:Tautology (logic)|tautologous]] or "metaphysical" (i.e. meaningless, or "literally senseless"). He started to work on the book at the age of 23<ref>''Language, Truth and Logic'', Penguin, 2001, p. ix</ref> and it was published when he was 26. Ayer's philosophical ideas were deeply influenced by those of the Vienna Circle and [[Biography:David Hume|David Hume]]. His clear, vibrant and polemical exposition of them makes ''Language, Truth and Logic'' essential reading on the tenets of logical empiricism; the book is regarded as a classic of 20th-century [[Philosophy:Analytic philosophy|analytic philosophy]] and is widely read in philosophy courses around the world. In it, Ayer also proposes that the distinction between a conscious man and an unconscious machine resolves itself into a distinction between "different types of perceptible behaviour",<ref>''Language, Truth and Logic'', Penguin, 2001, p. 140</ref> an argument that anticipates the [[Turing test]] published in 1950 to test a machine's capability to demonstrate intelligence.

Ayer wrote two books on the philosopher [[Biography:Bertrand Russell|Bertrand Russell]], ''Russell and Moore: The Analytic Heritage'' (1971)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=White|first=Alan R.|date=January 1972|title=Russell and Moore: The Analytical Heritage. by A. J. Ayer|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2218597|journal=The Philosophical Quarterly|volume=22|issue=86|pages=68|doi=10.2307/2218597|jstor=2218597|issn=0031-8094}}</ref> and ''Russell'' (1972). He also wrote an introductory book on the philosophy of [[Biography:David Hume|David Hume]] and a short biography of [[Biography:Voltaire|Voltaire]].

Ayer was a strong critic of the German philosopher [[Biography:Martin Heidegger|Martin Heidegger]]. As a logical positivist, Ayer was in conflict with Heidegger's vast, overarching theories of existence. Ayer considered them completely unverifiable through empirical demonstration and logical analysis, and this sort of philosophy an unfortunate strain in modern thought. He considered Heidegger the worst example of such philosophy, which Ayer believed entirely useless. In ''Philosophy in the Twentieth Century'', Ayer accuses Heidegger of "surprising ignorance" or "unscrupulous distortion" and "what can fairly be described as charlatanism."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ayer |first=A. J. (Alfred Jules) |url=https://archive.org/details/philosophyintwen00ayer/page/228/mode/1up |title=Philosophy in the twentieth century |date=1984 |publisher=New York : Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-394-71655-8 |pages=228 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In 1972–73, Ayer gave the Gifford Lectures at the [[Organization:University of St Andrews|University of St Andrews]], later published as ''The Central Questions of Philosophy''. In the book's preface, he defends his selection to hold the lectureship on the basis that Lord Gifford wished to promote "[[Philosophy:Natural theology|natural theology]], in the widest sense of that term", and that non-believers are allowed to give the lectures if they are "able reverent men, true thinkers, sincere lovers of and earnest inquirers after truth".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ayer |first=A. J. (Alfred Jules) |url=http://archive.org/details/centralquestions0000ayer_b1u9 |title=The central questions of philosophy |date=1974 |publisher=New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-03-013116-5 |pages=ix |url-access=registration}}</ref> He still believed in the viewpoint he shared with the logical positivists: that large parts of what was traditionally called philosophy{{mdash}}including [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]], theology and [[Social:Aesthetics|aesthetics]]{{mdash}}were not matters that could be judged true or false, and that it was thus meaningless to discuss them.

In ''The Concept of a Person and Other Essays'' (1963), Ayer heavily criticized Wittgenstein's [[Philosophy:Private language argument|private language argument]].

Ayer's sense-data theory in ''Foundations of Empirical Knowledge'' was famously criticised by fellow Oxonian [[Biography:J. L. Austin|J. L. Austin]] in ''[[Philosophy:Sense and Sensibilia (Austin)|Sense and Sensibilia]]'', a landmark 1950s work of ordinary language philosophy. Ayer responded in the essay "Has Austin Refuted the Sense-datum Theory?",<ref name=":3" /> which can be found in his ''Metaphysics and Common Sense'' (1969).

== Awards ==
Ayer was awarded a knighthood as Knight Bachelor in the London Gazette on 1 January 1970.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=44999 |supp=y|page=1|date=30 December 1969}}</ref>

== Selected publications ==
* 1936, ''Language, Truth, and Logic'', London: Gollancz., 2nd ed., with new introduction (1946) {{oclc|416788667}}  {{ISBN|978-0-14-118604-7}}
* 1936, "Causation and free will",<ref>listed in some bibliographies as (The) "Freedom of the Will" (1936)</ref> ''The Aryan Path''.
* 1940, ''The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge'', London: Macmillan. {{oclc|2028651}}
* 1954, ''Philosophical Essays'', London: Macmillan. (Essays on freedom, phenomenalism, basic propositions, utilitarianism, other minds, the past, ontology.) {{oclc|186636305}}
* 1957, "The conception of probability as a logical relation", in S. Korner, ed., ''Observation and Interpretation in the Philosophy of Physics'', New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications.
* 1956, ''The Problem of Knowledge'', London: Macmillan. {{oclc|557578816}}
*1957, "Logical Positivism - A Debate"  (with F. C. Copleston) in: [[Biography:Paul Edwards (philosopher)|Edwards, Paul]], [[Biography:Arthur Pap|Pap, Arthur]] (eds.), ''A Modern Introduction to Philosophy; readings from classical and contemporary sources''<ref>reprinted in Ayer, A. J., (1990) ''The Meaning of Life and Other Essays'', the same being reviewed (with attention given to the Ayer/Copleston debate) in: [[Biography:Colin McGinn|McGinn, Colin]] (30 August 1990). [https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v12/n16/colin-mcginn/old-scores "Old Scores".] ''London Review of Books''. '''12''' (16).</ref>
* 1963, ''The Concept of a Person and Other Essays'', London: Macmillan. (Essays on truth, privacy and private languages, laws of nature, the concept of a person, probability.) {{oclc|3573935}}
* 1967, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20114547 "Has Austin Refuted the Sense-Datum Theory?"]<ref name=":3">listed (and reprinted) as "Has Austin Refuted Sense-data?" in Fann. K.T. (ed.), ''Symposium on J.L. Austin'' (1969)</ref> ''Synthese'' vol. XVIII, pp.&nbsp;117–140. (Reprinted in Ayer 1969).
* 1968, ''The Origins of Pragmatism'', London: Macmillan. {{oclc|641463982}}
* 1969, ''Metaphysics and Common Sense'', London: Macmillan. (Essays on knowledge, man as a subject for science, chance, philosophy and politics, existentialism, metaphysics, and a reply to Austin on sense-data theory [Ayer 1967].) {{ISBN|978-0-333-10517-7}}
* 1971, ''Russell and Moore: The Analytical Heritage'', London: Macmillan. {{oclc|464766212}}
* 1972, ''Probability and Evidence'', London: Macmillan. {{ISBN|978-0-333-12756-8}}
* 1972, ''Russell'', London: Fontana Modern Masters. {{oclc|186128708}}
* 1973, ''The Central Questions of Philosophy'', London: Weidenfeld. {{ISBN|978-0-297-76634-6}}
* 1977, ''Part of My Life'', London: Collins. {{ISBN|978-0-00-216017-9}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wolfowicz |first=Jacqueline |date=1979 |title=Review of Part of my Life |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23944125 |journal=Revue Internationale de Philosophie |volume=33 |issue=129 |pages=588–597 |jstor=23944125 |issn=0048-8143 |url-access=registration |via=[[Organization:JSTOR|JSTOR]]}}</ref>
* 1979, "Replies", in G. F. Macdonald, ed., ''Perception and Identity: Essays Presented to A. J. Ayer, With His Replies'', London: Macmillan; Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.<ref>McDonald (1979) also includes [https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-1-349-04862-5%2F1.pdf a detailed listing of Ayer's philosophical works]</ref>
* 1980, ''Hume'', Oxford: Oxford University Press
* 1982, ''Philosophy in the Twentieth Century'', London: Weidenfeld.
* 1984, ''Freedom and Morality and Other Essays'', Oxford: Clarendon Press.
* 1984, ''More of My Life'', London: Collins.
* 1986, ''Ludwig Wittgenstein'', London: Penguin.
* 1986, ''Voltaire'', New York: Random House.
* 1988, ''Thomas Paine'', London: Secker & Warburg. 
* 1990, ''The Meaning of Life and Other Essays'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson.<ref>Reviewed in: [[Biography:Colin McGinn|McGinn, Colin]] (30 August 1990). [https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v12/n16/colin-mcginn/old-scores "Old Scores"]. ''London Review of Books''. '''12''' (16).</ref>
*1991, "A Defense of Empiricism" in: Griffiths, A. Phillips (ed.), ''A. J. Ayer: Memorial Essays'' (Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements). Cambridge University Press.<ref>Phillips (1991) also includes a 1989 interview with Ayer conducted by [[Biography:Ted Honderich|Ted Hondereich]]</ref>
* 1992, "Intellectual Autobiography" and Replies in: Lewis Edwin Hahn (ed.), ''The Philosophy of A.J. Ayer (The Library of Living Philosophers Volume XXI)'', Open Court Publishing Co.<ref>Hahn (1992) also includes a comprehensive 27-page bibliography of Ayer's writings compiled by Guida Crowley.</ref>
<nowiki>*</nowiki>For more complete publication details see [https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-1-349-04862-5%2F1.pdf "The Philosophical Works of A. J. Ayer"] (1979) and "Bibliography of the writings of A.J. Ayer" (1992).

== See also ==
* [[Philosophy:A priori and a posteriori|''A priori'' knowledge]]
* List of British philosophers

== References ==
=== Footnotes ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Works cited ===
* Ayer, A.J. (1989). [http://www.philosopher.eu/others-writings/a-j-ayer-what-i-saw-when-i-was-dead/ "That undiscovered country"], ''New Humanist'', Vol. 104 (1), May, pp.&nbsp;10–13.
* Rogers, Ben (1999). ''[https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6782148M/A.J._Ayer A.J. Ayer: A Life]''. New York: Grove Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8021-3869-9}}. ([https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/r/rogers-ayer.html Chapter one and a review by Hilary Spurling], ''The New York Times'', 24 December 2000.)
*{{Cite ODNB |last=Wollheim  |first=Richard |date=January 2011|orig-year=2004 |title=Ayer, Sir Alfred Jules [Freddie] |id=39796}}

== Further reading ==
*Jim Holt, [https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/12/21/vienna-circle-positive-thinking/ "Positive Thinking"] (review of Karl Sigmund, ''Exact Thinking in Demented Times:  The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science'', Basic Books, 449 pp.), ''The New York Review of Books'', vol. LXIV, no. 20 (21 December 2017), pp.&nbsp;74–76.
* [[Biography:Ted Honderich|Ted Honderich]], [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/AyerbyTH.html Ayer's Philosophy and its Greatness].
* [[Biography:Anthony Quinton|Anthony Quinton]], [https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/94p255.pdf Alfred Jules Ayer]. ''Proceedings of the British Academy'', '''94''' (1996), pp.&nbsp;255–282.
* Graham Macdonald, Alfred Jules Ayer, ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'', 7 May 2005.
* {{Citation
|publisher = Routledge & Kegan Paul
|isbn = 0-7102-0602-X
|location = London
|title = Ayer
|url = https://archive.org/details/ayer0000fost
|author = Foster, John
|date = 1985
|id = 071020602X
|url-access = registration
}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6_Vy-Uzwzc "Logical Positivism"] (video) ''Men of Ideas'' interview with [[Biography:Bryan Magee|Bryan Magee]] (1978)
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOnzBSWIAzo "Frege, Russell, and Modern Logic"] (video) ''The Great Philosophers'' interview with Bryan Magee (1987)
*[http://www.sveinbjorn.org/ayer_philosophy_and_politics Ayer's Elizabeth Rathbone Lecture on Philosophy & Politics]
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ayer/ Ayer entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/callinicos/1989/09/ayer.html A.J. Ayer: Out of time] by [[Biography:Alex Callinicos|Alex Callinicos]]
* {{OL author}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname= A. J. Ayer}}
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mhc8 Appearance on Desert Island Discs - 3 August 1984]
* {{IMDb name|2044497}}

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