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The original version of the Principle of Verifiabüity (PV), formulated as "The meaning of a proposition is the method of its verification" (Schlick, quoting Wittgenstein), can be criticised as ungrammatical. Schlick's claim that it was a "truism" reflecting commonsense and scientific practice is refuted by PV's paradoxical consequences. Its users faüed to distinguish between operational and situational readings, the latter of which invokes a mythology of comparison with "facts". Wittgenstein rightly described PV as a "rule of thumb" of limited usefulness.

A. Le principe de l’identité des indiscernables me semble de toute évidence vrai. Et je ne vois pas comment nous pourrions définir l’identité ou établir la connexion entre les mathématiques et la logique si nous ne l’utilisons pas. B. Quant à moi, il me semble de toute évidence faux. Tes difficultés de logicien mathématicien sont hors de propos. Si le principe est faux, tu n’as pas le droit de l’utiliser. A. Tu ne fais que dire qu’il est faux — et (...) même si tu le disais trois fois de suite, cel.. (shrink)

Why should I be rational? -- Reasonableness-- Scientific objectivity -- Is scientific neutrality a myth? -- Humaneness -- The prevalence of humbug -- The rationality of voting -- Newcomb's problem demystified.

Introduction MAX BLACK Nothing of any value can be said on method except through examples; but now, at the end of our course, we may collect certain general ...

Parts of the book date back to and some of the concluding remarks on ethics and the will may have been composed still earlier, when Wittgenstein admired ...