26AXIOM
AXIOM. From the Greek for “to think
worthy.” An axiom is a proposition that is
assumed to be true, not being based on
the knowledge of other propositions. An
axiom may be regarded as intuitively
obvious or self-evident, but not justified
or demonstrated to be true by other prop-
ositions. For example, “everything is itself
and not something else.”
AYER, ALFRED JULES (1910–1989).
In philosophy of religion, Ayer is best
known for his argument that religious
propositions about God have no cogni-
tive content or meaning because they
cannot be verified empirically. Ayer was
the chief popular defender of logical posi-
tivism. He later thought his theory of
meaning was deeply problematic. Just
before he died, he reported having an
out of body experience, which became a
public sensation but did not impact his
thinking about religion. His works include
Language, Truth, and Logic (1936), 2nd
ed. (1946), The Foundations of Empirical
Knowledge (1940), Philosophical Essays
(1954), The Problem of Knowledge (1956),
Philosophy and Language (1960), The
Concept of a Person (1963), The Origins
of Pragmatism (1968), and Russell and
Moore (1971). See also EMPIRICISM and
RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE.