LOGICAL POSITIVISM
140LOGICAL POSITIVISM. An empiricist
movement according to which a proposi-
tion is meaningful if and only if it con-
cerns the relation of ideas (definitions) or
if the truth or falsehood of the proposi-
tion is evident (in principle) empirically.
This principle was used by A. J. Ayer and
others to argue that religious language
was not meaningful. There was great con-
troversy in the middle and late twentieth
century about whether the principle is
itself meaningful and about the role of
empirical evidence. It appears, for exam-
ple, that there are statements about the
future that are meaningful but could (in
principle) never, if true, be verified. For
example, “There will never be a planet
with unicorns and hobbits.”
LONERGAN, BERNARD (1904–1984).
A Canadian philosophical theologian
who defended a nuanced epistemology
that gave a central role to insight. In his
latter work he recognized an affective
dimension to theological inquiry. His
chief works include Insight (1957) and
Method in Theology (1972).
LOVE. In Greek, one can identify eros as
one form of love which involves desire.
This may or may not be sensuous or
erotic. Another form of love was called
phileo, which can designate friendship
love or the love of a virtue like wisdom.
Agape love was considered a love that was
divine or unconditional, not dependent
upon the particular characteristics of the
beloved.
Today the term “love” has a wide vari-
ety of meanings and it is sometimes used
in a way that is morally neutral, e.g., just
because someone loves does not entail
that the love is virtuous or good, for a
person may be said to love cruelty. Be that
as it may, Platonic philosophical tradition
from Plato to the Florentine academy and
the Cambridge Platonists understands
love to be the key to the fulfillment of the
soul as the soul seeks to love the good, the
true, and the beautiful.
Questions in philosophy of love include:
Does love have to rest on reasons? What
is the relationship between impartial
charity and the preferential love of a
person? Is loving a person a matter of
loving the properties of the person (her
wit, intelligence, elegance, and so on) or
of loving the person who has these prop-
erties but might lose them? Can you love
another person too much?LOVEJOY, ARTHUR O(NCHKEN)
(1873–1962). A preeminent historian of
ideas who wrote a seminal treatment of
medieval European philosophy and its
encounter with modern science. He was
the first editor of the Journal of History of
Ideas and his chief works include The
Great Chain of Being (1936) and Essays in
the History of Ideas (1948). Lovejoy’s work
on the great chain of being was a highly
influential study of the philosophical and