In 1919 , Newton 's theory fell to Einstein 's general theory of relativity . In the late 1920s , the logical positivists rejected Kant 's synthetic '' a priori '' and asserted Hume 's fork , so called , while hinging it at language — the analytic/synthetic division — while presuming that by holding to analyticity , they could develop a logical syntax entailing , as a consequence of Hume 's fork , both necessity and aprioricity , thus restricting science to claims verifiable as either false or true . In the early 1950s , Willard Van Orman Quine undermined the analytic/synthetic division by explicating ontological relativity , as every term in any statement has its meaning contingent on a vast network of knowledge and belief , the speaker 's conception of the entire world . By the early 1970s , Saul Kripke established the necessary '' a posteriori '' , since if the Morning Star and the Evening Star are the same star , they are the same star by necessity , but this is known true by a human only through relevant experience
In 1919
Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919
Hume's fork