To Be or Not to Be a Logical Behaviorist. Ayer and Carnap on Knowledge of Other Minds

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Abstract

The term “logical behaviorism” covers a multitude of sins and sinners and has not always been applied correctly. Here I consider certain aspects of the cases presented by A.J. Ayer’s Language Truth and Logic and his later rejection of it, and Carnap’s view on the demands that physicalism makes of the language of psychology. It is argued that while Ayer was a logical behaviorist (albeit in some ways nonstandard), Carnap was not (neither standard nor nonstandard) and that because of this difference, Carnap’s account of our knowledge of other minds was comparatively more successful than Ayer’s.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)67-88
Number of pages22
JournalLogique et Analyse. Nouvelle Serie
Volume253
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2021

Keywords

  • A.J. Ayer
  • Logical behaviorism
  • Rudolf Carnap

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