Logical Positivism is Trashed

By

Anthony J. Fejfar, B.A., J.D., Esq., Coif

© Copyright 2009 by Anthony J. Fejfar

Logical Positivism since the Philosopher Comte has argued that reality is best

known through “rigorous logical inferences from sense experience.” In order for Logical

Positivism to be valid, human sense experience must be a reliable indicator of reality. In

fact, sense experience is not a reliable indicator of reality. Recall that the Five Senses

are:

1. Taste

2. Smell

3. Touch

4. Sight

5. Hearing

With respect to taste, it is clear that taste functions inconsistently based upon

provisional circumstances. For example, if you place sugar in your mouth and then eat a

piece fruit, the fruit will no longer taste sweet, when in ordinary circumstances it would

taste sweet. Taste is also affected if you eat something very sour before eating a piece of

fruit.

With respect to smell it is clear that your sense of smell can change if you have

smelled something just beforehand such as smoke or shit. For example, long term

cigarette smokers typically have a reduced sense of smell.

 With respect to touch, it is clear that your sense of touch can be affected by prior

experience. For example, if you lift hand barbells for one half-hour your sense of weight

changes. At first objects seem lighter and as you tire your muscles they seem heavier.

Also, we must consider touch in relation to temperature. If the wind is blowing the air

seems much colder to the skin than when it is calm. Also, if you place a warm rag on

your hand for 5 minutes your sense of temperature will be affected. The same is true if

you place ice cubes on your hand.

With respect to sight, sight is not reliable. Many people are near sighted or far

sighted and see a blurry world all the time. Additionally, if you are near sighted or

farsighted and wear glasses the world you see is smaller than the one that really is there.

This is just like the mirrors that are on cars which say that the object is nearer than what it

appears in the mirror. Finally, if you place a straight wooden rod or dowel in a glass tank

of water and look at it from a side angle the dowel appears to be crooked.

With respect to hearing, it is clear that the human ear does not hear everything that

a dog, for example, can hear. A dog using dog sense experience can hear a high

frequency pitched dog whistle while a human being cannot hear it.

Finally, Philosopher Emmanuel Kant and Bernard Lonergan wrote that the world

of meaning at Level 2, known as the noumenal world is all that we know after we have

reached the age of 2 years old. The phenomenal world of sense experience is mediated

by meaning and therefore we cannot know it without Intuition at Level 3.