The Elimination of Metaphysics Through Logical Analysis of Language

Criticisms of very diverse kinds have been set forth. Many have declared that the doctrine of metaphysics is false, since it contradicts our empirical knowledge. Many anti metaphysicians have declared that occupation with metaphysical questions is sterile. The development of modern logic has made it possible to give a new and sharper answer to the question of the validity and justification of metaphysics. The researches of applied logic or the theory of knowledge, which aim at clarifying the cognitive content of scientific statements and thereby the meanings of the ternis that occur in the statements, by means of logical analysis, lead to a positive and to a negative result. A word which has a meaning, is usually also said to designate a concept; if it only seems to have a meaning while it really does not, people speak of a “pseudo-concept.”