The British philosopher, A.J. Ayer is known for his influence on the development of analytical philosophy, spreading and developing the ideas of logical positivism following his study with the Vienna Circle in the 1920s. A.J. Ayer rejected metaphysics and theology as meaningless and emotivist, and argued for what he identified as a 'criterion of verifiability' as a test of meaningful statements. In addition to being a creative and rigorous philosopher, the major books included in this collection reveal him to have been a gifted teacher.

VOLUME 1
Introduction; T.Honderich
Language, Truth and Logic (1936), 254pp
VOLUME 2
Foundations of Empirical Knowledge ( 1940), 276pp
VOLUME 3
The Problem of Knowledge (1953), 223pp
and
Probability and Evidence (1972), 144pp
VOLUME 4
The Concept of the Person, and Other Essays (1963), 272pp
VOLUME 5
The Origins of Pragmatism (1968), 346pp
VOLUME 6
Bertrand Russell and G.E.Moore: The Analytical Heritage (1971), 245pp
VOLUME 7
The Central Questions of Philosophy (1973), 243pp

A. J. AYER (1910-1989) studied philosophy with members of the Vienna Circle in the 1920s before teaching philosophy at Oxford and London universities. He became Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford in 1959. He was highly influential in the development of analytical philosophy,and a great populariser of the subject. Among his many books, Language, Truth and Logic, written in 1936, is the best known, and still widely studied by philosophy students.

TED HONDERICH is Grote Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Logic Emeritus, University of London. He is Editor of the Oxford Companion to Philosophy.