 The analytic/synthetic distinction and the observational/theoretical distinction were tied together by the verifiability criterion of meaningfulness, according to which, in relation to a given language, \(\mathbf{L}\), a sentence \(S\) is meaningful if and only if it is either analytic-in-\(\mathbf{L}\) or synthetic-in-\(\mathbf{L}\) as an observation sentence or a sentence whose truth follows from a finite set of observation sentences. By this standard, sentences that are non-analytic but also non-verifiable, including various theological or metaphysical assertions concerning God or The Absolute, qualify as cognitively meaningless. This was viewed as a desirable result. But, as Hempel would demonstrate, its scope was far too sweeping, since it also rendered meaningless the distinctively scientific assertions made by laws and theories.