8,9) Religious language Flashcards
Cognitive statement?
Twentieth-century perspectives
Truth claims, asserting facts that can be known as either true or false?
* 2+2=4
Non cognitive statement?
Twentieth-century perspectives
Do not describe facts and cannot be determined as true or false
* God exists
What was the Vienna circle?
Twentieth-century perspectives
- A group of philosophers discussed together that God was used as an explanation for anything that science had not yet mastered. and that science should be brought to the forefront of our understanding
- They argued that it is old-fashioned for people turn to God to look to find knowledge
- science should take precedence over Christianity
logical positivsm?
Vienna circle
That the aim of philosophers should be too analyse language, particularly the language of science
What is the verification principle?
A.J Ayer and the vienna circle
That statements must be verified by the senses to be meaningful
What are analytical statements?
A.J Ayer
statements that are true by nature/definition
“bachelors are unmarried men”
What are synthetic statements?
A.J Ayer
“Jack is a bachelor”
Extra information is needed to verify
Meaningful statements?
A.J Ayer
verified statements, Jack is a bachelor because I asked him and he confirmed he was an unmarried man
What are Ayer’s thoughts on religious language?
A.J Ayer
Ayer said that religious statements like “ God created the world” are meaningless because they can’t be verified through the senses
What is tautology?
A.J Ayer
A phrase where the same thing is said twice in different words, the three-sided
Strengths of the verification principle?
A.J Ayer
- Clarity in meaning, helps to differentiate between meaningful and meaningless statements ( synthetic)
- Focus on empirical evidence, uses our senses and science to verify statements
- promotes logical thinking and discourages vague calims
Weaknesses of the verification principle?
A.J Ayer
- science is constantly changing and isn’t always a reliable source of verification
- LimitsLimits human understanding: Dismisses questions and concepts that are meaningful but not empirically verifiable (e.g., existential or spiritual inquiries)
- religion and science go hand-in-hand
What does Antony Flew say about the falsification principle?
Antony Flew
Rather than focusing on verifiability they should focus on falsifiability.
Asserting something that proves it wrong rather than what it proves right, for example I have spent my morning teaching a philosophy class , that would rule out other things I couldn’t be doing like baking a cake or being on a plane
What parable does Antony Flew use to explain his idea about religious beliefs?
Antony Flew
Antony Flew’s “Gardener Story,” also known as the Parable of the Invisible Gardener, is a thought experiment that challenges religious belief systems. In this story, two people come across a garden. One person believes there is an unseen gardener tending to the garden, while the other doubts this claim. They set up tests to detect the gardener (e.g., looking for footprints or using motion sensors), but no evidence of a gardener is found. The believer then says the gardener is invisible, silent, and intangible. The skeptic counters that this description makes the gardener indistinguishable from no gardener at all.
What does Flew believe when it comes to religion?
Antony Flew
That relgious beliefs are like the gardener story, believers keep changing the story to suit their need.
What are bliks according to Hare?
R.M Hare
a basic unfalsifable (true) belief
A belief/ perception someone has that cannot be disproven
What does R.M Hare say?
R.M Hare
- When people talk about religion it is non-cognitive , based on opinion
- Someone’s religious beliefs cannot be falsified because they aren’t true (cognitive statements) to begin with
What parable does Hare give?
R.M Hare
That a lunatic is convinced that his professors are trying to kill him, his friends arrange for him to meet the kindest professors but this doesn’t convince the lunatic otherwise.
* If the person argues that what they say is not a fact (non-cognitive) then you cannot disprove what they are saying
* Hare’s point is that Flew is wrong to apply science to theological language
* Everyone has bliks , some reasonable and some not
* religious beliefs are bliks because they cannot be tested empirically
What was the partisan and resistance fighter parable show?
Basil Mitchell
That the partisan deliberately chose to follow the stranger even though he didn’t know his true motives, according to Mitchell you can do this but you must apply proof to evaluate whether or not to follow what someone says.
What did Ludwig Wittengenstein say?
Ludwig Wittgenstein
- do no speak on a matter if you are not familiar with it , if you can’t back it up.
- which he then changed his mind as he was narrow-minded because if you do not attempt to understand something then you aren’t going to understand it any better
What example did Wittgenstein give?
Ludwig Wittgenstein
The idea of chess being only understood by the people who can play chess. The same way that people who talk about steam train’s and their intracacies would understand it but not those who don’t.
Lebensform?
Ludwig Wittgenstein
‘form of life’ to signify the context in which language might be used
How is religion a groundless belief according to Wittgenstein?
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein viewed religious beliefs as “groundless” because they are not based on empirical evidence or rational proof.
What are language games?
Ludwig Wittgenstein
- Words that gain meaning from which the context they are used in
- Son playing call of duty and Grandma overhears him say “He’s dead, I shot him” , this would startle her
Why is context important to Ludwig Wittgenstein?
Ludwig Wittgenstein
He argued that words and expressions only make sense within the activities and forms of life where they are used. Without context, language loses its grounding and meaning becomes ambiguous or misleading. For Wittgenstein, understanding context is key to grasping how language connects to human life and behavior.
What did Wittgenstein say about Richard Dawkins?
Richard Dawkins cannot engage in a conversation about Christianity as that is a different language game
How did Ludwig Wittengstein influence the vienna circle?
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Influenced the criteria for what can and cannot be said:
* argued that not all aspects of reality should be discussed, only that which has been conceptualised
* meaningful discussions are impossible , as not all things can be proved true or false
What does D.Z Phillips say?
D.Z Phillips
Religious language is meaningful for those who genuinely use it - it doesn’t have to be justified to those who do not participate in that particular language game
What did Peter Donovan say?
Peter Donovan
Saying things in the wrong context won’t make any sense. Richard Dawkins would bring science into a religious debate but Dawkins is using his own language game to apply to the religious language game. So it just doesn’t work and the religious language gamers don’t need to explain themselves to him. Since science in a relgious debate doesn’t belong
weaknesses of the language game:
- if two people are playing a different “language game” then it prevents meaningful discussions from emerging
- Does not allow for empirical evidences to test religious claims
Strengths of the language game:
- people can appreciate and understand differences in language games
- prevents misunderstanding
What is the apophatic way (via negativa)?
The apophatic way, also known as the “via negativa,” is a method of describing God by negation, emphasizing what God is not rather than what God is. It seeks to highlight the transcendence of the divine by avoiding finite or limited descriptions.
what did this person say?
supported by Pseudo-Dionysius
He argued that the apophatic way is the only way to speak truthfully about God because God is beyond all understanding and imagination
We must not speak of God in a sense-observation way but rather enter a “cloud of unknowing” through which God can be approached
What was the problem with Maimonides?
Moses maimonides
he used an example of the apophatic way to describe a ship’s qualities, but failed miserably.
This shows that via negativa doesn’t always give the best description or a better description than cataphatic ways
How did Brian Davies criticise the apophatic way?
Brian Davies
He used the example of a task master giving the task of having people guess what is inside the room, when people ask “ is it a rubber?” , “ is it a pencil”, the responses would be “no it is not”. This does not give any wider understanding of what it is the task master has inside the room.
Davies concludes that Maiomonides’ method of arriving at the right answer is unlikely to lead people in the right direction at all
What is another critique of the apophatic way?
via negativa
Via negativa cannot be implemented if someone doesn’t know the options to begin with.
process of elimination only works if the options are known
For example: if i told two people one inside the classroom and one outside , to guess what is in the room that i am thinking of, the person inside the room would be able to use process of elimination whereas the person outside does not know of any objects already in the room and so has no options.
What is the cataphatic way?
supported by Aquinas
- via positiva
- that positive statements can be made about God
What is univocal language?
Words when applied to God have the same meaning that they have in their normal context. Therefore, risks making God sound human.
What is equivocal language?
Words when applied to God have a completely different meaning from their normal use. Therefore, no knowledge of God.
What does Aquinas acknowledge?
We cannot use literal terms for God as we are limited by our understanding. However analogies provide us the ability to understand God.
What are Aquinas’ views on analogy?
Aquinas
He believes that analogies , a comparison between two things in order to help us understand the less familiar thing, can describe God
What does Brian Davies say about the cataphatic way?
cataphatic way
He uses the example of “ the bread is good, the baker is good”
that because the bread was good this indicates that the baker must also be good.
You are using good both times but this doesn’t mean that the baker is like good bread , tasty.
The analaogy of attribution?
Aquinas
The words that are applied to human beings are related to how they are applied to God because there is a causal relationship between the two sets of qualities.
“ if the urine is good then the Bull is good”
we can examine a human’s love and notice that God’s love must be greater
The analogy of proper proportion?
Aquinas
The extent to which a being can be said to have certain properties is in proportion to the type of being we are describing.
If we say the child is a good footballer , this does not mean he is on par with an international footballer who is also good.
The same way that we say a human is “good” this is describing a finite being , yet when we say God is “good” this is an infinite being so his “goodness” will be in proportion to his infinity
What is John Hick’s view on analogy?
he develops Aquinas’ analogy by using a dog’s faithfulness smaller than a human’s faithfullness. The same way a human’s faithfullness must be much smaller than the faithfullness of God.
He is in support of Aquinas’ idea of analogy
What does paul Tillich say?
Paul Tillich
Tillich argued that religious language is symbolic, not literal.
What are signs?
Paul Tillich
Signs: Point to something beyond themselves but have no intrinsic connection to what they represent (e.g., a stop sign).
What are symbols?
Paul Tillich
Symbols: Not only point beyond themselves but also participate in the reality they represent. For example, a religious symbol like the cross embodies deeper spiritual meaning and connects believers to the divine.
Example of symbols in Christianity?
Paul Tillich
Some argue that wearing the crucifix literally (as a talisman or charm) risks turning it into a superstitious object, detracting from its true purpose as a representation of divine love and sacrifice.
What are the quotes for Tillich?
Paul Tillich
When Paul says “ participates in that to which it points” he means that symbols are not just indicators they are integral to the meaning and experience of what they represent. They evoke a purpose, memories and feelings.
” every symbol is double edged” . it opens up reality and it opens the soul” , this means that symbols have the power to reveal deeper truths about the world while also touching and transforming our inner selves.
What is the only statement we can make about God?
Paul Tillich
That we cannot talk literally about God because God is not part of the empircal world as God transcends our reality.
Therefore God is the ground of being.
Strengths of Tillich’s symoblic language
Paul Tillich
- conveys complex ideas: symolic language can express complex ideas that literal language may struggle with, the cross presenting the theme of sacrifice and devotion
- Symbols can evoke strong emotions and create a deep connection with individuals. A symbol like the poppy on rememberance day can evoke feelings of respect for fallen soldiers
- Cultural and Historical significance: symbols often carry rich, cultural and historical meanings making them powerful tools for communication. The star of David Judaism is not just a religious symbol but also a representation of Jewish identity and heritage.
Weaknesses of Tillich’s symbolic language?
Paul Tillich
- Symbolic language can be ambiguous which can lead to misunderstandings.
- potential for manipulation: symbols can be manipulated and misused to serve particular agendas which can distort the original meaning, Hitler’s swastika symbol derived from Hinduism and early Buddhism.
- The meaning of symbols can change depending on the context and culture. A symbol that is meaningful in one culture might be meaningless or offensive in another. Again the Swastika.
What did Tillich compare symbols with?
He compared symbols with art that evoke an emotion or plathera of thoughts for the person whos sees it.
Where does symbolic language come from?
It comes from our previous experiences.
