A. J. Ayer's most influential books belong to analytic philosophy and logical positivism, written in a direct, argumentative style that made Vienna Circle ideas widely accessible in English. Language, Truth and Logic argues that many traditional metaphysical claims are not false so much as meaningless because they cannot be verified by experience or reduced to logical truths. The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge examines perception and the relation between sense experience and claims about physical objects, while The Problem of Knowledge develops sceptical questions about memory, testimony and our grounds for saying that we know something. Ayer also wrote about probability, freedom and the history of twentieth-century philosophy, as well as autobiographical books including Part of My Life. His work is concise and combative, with definitions and counterexamples doing much of the work. Language, Truth and Logic is the usual entry point for logical positivism; The Problem of Knowledge is more useful for readers concentrating on epistemology and scepticism. Read more Less
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