Verificationism is a survey of the precursors, the main proponents and the rehabilitators of a concept which dominated philosophy and scientific methodology between the 1930's and the 1960's. In line with the resurgence of interest in logical positivism amongst philosophers of science, Verificationism assesses the more flexible ideas of verification which are now being rehabilitated. Placing the verificationist principle within its historical context, C.J.Misak makes a survey from its origins in the empiricism of Berkeley and Hume through to its apparent culmination in the legal positivism of the middle of the twentieth century. She goes on to explore the alternative approaches adopted by C.S.Pierce and other pragmatists. Their broader definition of criterion allowed verificationism to develop and change beyond the confines of logical postivist thought. Unlike traditional studies,Misak examines the reappearance of verificatist theory in the work of contemporary philosophers. She also argues that, despite feminism's strenuous opposition to positivism, verificationist thought is the core of much contemporary feminist philosophy; moreover, it is the heart of pragmatism.

本文的引用網址: