In 1988, Ayer had a near-death experience in the United States after choking on salmon and subsequently losing consciousness. He was also an honorary member of the Bertrand Russell. He was an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association from 1947 until his death. He was the first vice president of the British Humanist Association and served as its president from 1965 to 1970. Later in life, Ayer frequently identified himself as an atheist and became active in humanist causes. Included among his many works are The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940), The Problem of Knowledge (1956), The Origins of Pragmatism (1968), Metaphysics and Common Sense (1969), Bertrand Russell (1972) and Hume (1980), about philosopher David Hume. He then became Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford. From 1946 to 1959, he taught philosophy at University College London. Ayer attended Eton College and studied philosophy and Greek at Oxford University. His father was a Swiss Calvinist and his mother was of Dutch-Jewish ancestry. Later in life, Ayer frequently identified himself as an atheist and became active in humani In 1910, Sir Alfred Jules Ayer was born in London into a wealthy family. In 1910, Sir Alfred Jules Ayer was born in London into a wealthy family.

Language, Truth, and Logic by A.J. Ayer