ABSTRACT
Alfred Jules Ayer was born in London, the only child of immigrant parents. His father, Jules Ayer, was a Swissborn businessman, and his mother, Reine Citroen Ayer, was a Dutch Jew whose distant cousin had founded the well-known Citroen automobile company. At age seven, Ayer was sent to boarding school at Eastbourne, and at age twelve, he won an academic scholarship to prestigious Eton College. For the next six years, he studied the classics, enjoyed the theater, and participated actively in sports (he was quite good at tennis and fantasized about becoming a professional cricket player). During this time, he also gave up all religious belief. In 1928, Ayer won a scholarship in classics to Christ Church College, Oxford. There he studied philosophy as well as Greek and Roman history. He was fascinated by the philosophy of the early Wittgenstein and spent time in Cambridge with the philosopher.
