Criticisms of Verification

Question 1

How does the VP fail its own test?

Answer 1

• it is not an analytical statement or synthetically supported

Question 2

What important statements does VP render meaningless?

Answer 2

• Makes historical statements meaningless

- makes universal scientific statements meaningless

Question 3

How is “Henry VIII had six wives” meaningless?

Answer 3

• not a tautology

- cannot find Henry VIII to see how many wives he had

Question 4

How is “all metals expand when heated” meaningless?

Answer 4

You cannot go and test every atom of metal to discover whether the claim is true.

Question 5

Where does the eschatological verification find its ground?

Answer 5

The way that historical and universal statements become meaningful if we accept that we can know in principle

Question 6

What does John Hick say about eschatological verification?

Answer 6

Claims verification in principle makes religious statements meaningful, because after we die, we can check the truth of the statements.

Question 7

What do the two men say about the ‘celestial city’?

Answer 7

• one says at the end of this route there will be a celestial city
• one says that is an unavoidable and pointless journey

Question 8

Why are both of the men’s views about the celestial city meaningful?

Answer 8

Because neither claim is verifiable until the end of the journey. But their statements can be verified in Principe .