Keelefilosoofia raamat
If
one is a verificationist, philosophy of mind is over and done with.
Possibly one or more of the foregoing and to me unappetizing theories
are true. Perhaps they are all true. My point here is just that our theory of
linguistic meaning should not show in one step that they are. Metaphysics
should not be settled by a theory of language, for language is just a late adap-
tation found in one primate species. (Perhaps it is not even an adaptation, but
a pleiotropism; that is, a mere byproduct of other traits that are themselves
adaptive.)
Objection 4
How does the Verification Principle apply to itself? Either it is empirically
verifiable or it is not.
Suppose it is not verifiable. Then either it is just meaningless or it is an
empty "analytic" or definitional truth. At least one positivist (I have forgot-
ten which) gallantly embraced the idea that the principle is just meaningless,
a ladder to be kicked away once one has climbed it
annaabi.ee 
