“The criterion which we use to test the genuineness of apparent statements of fact is the criterion of verifiability.”

— Alfred Jules Ayer, book Language, Truth, and Logic

Source: Language, Truth, and Logic (1936), p. 16.
Context: The criterion which we use to test the genuineness of apparent statements of fact is the criterion of verifiability. We say that a sentence is factually significant to any given person, if, and only if, he knows how to verify the proposition which it purports to express — that is, if he knows what observations would lead him, under certain conditions, to accept the proposition as being true, or reject it as being false.

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Alfred Jules Ayer18

English philosopher 1910–1989

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“The criterion which we use to test the genuineness of apparent statements of fact is the criterion of verifiability.”

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Alfred Jules Ayer18

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