Alfred Jules Ayer: Morale

Alfred Jules Ayer was English philosopher. Explore interesting quotes on morale.
Alfred Jules Ayer: 36 quotes0 likes

“No moral system can rest solely on authority.”

Alfred Jules Ayer

Humanist Outlook (1968), p. 4.

“To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction.”

Alfred Jules Ayer

"The Meaning of Life".
The Meaning of Life and Other Essays (1990)

“If now I…say "Stealing money is wrong," I produce a sentence which has no factual meaning — that is, expresses no proposition which can be either true or false. It is as if I had written "Stealing money!!" — where the shape and thickness of the exclamation marks show, by a suitable convention, that a special sort of moral disapproval is the feeling which is being expressed.”

Alfred Jules Ayer book Language, Truth, and Logic

Source: Language, Truth, and Logic (1936), p. 107.

“While moral rules may be propounded by authority the fact that these were so propounded would not validate them.”

Alfred Jules Ayer

"The Meaning of Life".
The Meaning of Life and Other Essays (1990)