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I am using the word "perceive". I am using it here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.

— A. J. Ayer The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940)

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More quotes by A. J. Ayer

The criterion which we use to test the genuineness of apparent statements of fact is the criterion of verifiability.

Language, Truth, and Logic (1936)

"I exist" does not follow from "there is a thought now."

Language, Truth, and Logic (1936)

No moral system can rest solely on authority.

Humanist Outlook (1968)

The principles of logic and mathematics are true simply because we never allow them to be anything else.

Language, Truth, and Logic (1936)

The traditional disputes of philosophers are, for the most part, as unwarranted as they are unfruitful.

Language, Truth, and Logic (1936)

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