The name of a philosophical school of thought adopted by members and associates of the Vienna Circle, during the 1920s and 1930s, who included Alfred J. Ayer (1910-1989), Rudolf Carnap (1891-1970), Moritz Schlick (1882-1936), Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), and the early Bertrand Russell (1872-1970). Its main claim was that only analytical and synthetic statements or propositions are meaningful, and because metaphysical and ethical statements contain neither that they are meaningless (see Ayer, A.J., 1959). Thus, the only meaningful statements or propositions are those that are empirically verifiable. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) is sometimes considered to have been the founding father of logical positivism. Its ‘hard-headed’ approach to operationalizing definitions was adopted by behaviorism that drew much of its inspiration from logical positivism.
See Behaviorism, Description, Explanation, Operationalism
Ayer,A. J. (Ed.). (1959). Logical positivism. New York, NJ: Free Press.