Falsification Flashcards
falsification strength
Where religion makes important factual claims. Flew shows that believers choose to deny anything against these claims and this means they are not real assertions because they can be falsified
falsification weakness
Not everything can be defined through ‘meaningfulness’ (what is meaningfulness?)
falsification principle (Flew)
to test a rule, it is necessary to look for situations that would falsify the rule
Karl Popper
concept of falsification argued that the psychodynamic approach doesn’t meet the scientific criterion of falsification
Parable of the Gardener
garden is kept well, there is a never a person that is seen that is keeping the garden well, are they invisible. (like God and the world)
hick
religious language can be verified eschatologically and therefore it is cognitive
Hick Parable of the Celestial City
traveller who believes in the celestial kingdom (heaven) has no evidence to determine whether or not it exists, but is still committed its existence; and at the end of the journey will be shown to be right or wrong. Hick
Hick strengths 1
‘experiencing as’ shows that interpretation is a factor in all experience.
As soon as we talk about experiences we are interpreting them. only at death will we know the truth
hick strength 2
other christian views can be verified eschatologically
hick weakness 1
if his claims are false individual will never wake up to know. His claims are not falsifiable
athiests cannot prove that there is no life or death either
Hick weakness 2
atheists believe this is merely wishful- thinking
counter point: near death experiences support for continuation of consciousness as do studies of prof. Ian Stevenson
Blick RM HARE
Bliks are assumptions about the world, and everybody has a set of bliks about the world which gives them a framework to understand other beliefs. Bliks cannot be used as evidence in a debate, so must be non-cognitive.
Parable of the Lunatic (Hare)
the lunatic is convinced that every lecturer wants to kill him, and nobody can unconvince him
flew argues against Hare
if Hare’s religion really is a blik, involving no cosmological assertions about the nature and activities of a supposed personal creator, then surely he is not a christian at all?
Hare strength 1
explains why different religions make different factual claims
Hare strength 2
it explains why people are not convinced by evidence that appears to contradict their deeply held beliefs
Hare strength 3
it is right to say religious people see the world in different ways
Hare weakness 1
most believers see their beliefs as cognitive (facts)- Flew
Hare weakness 2
He assumes that he knows christians better than themselves
Hare weakness 3
if there are no factual beliefs of christianity. Its value reduces to psychological statements
Hare weakness 4
To use the language of verification it is verifiable to say there is a God
Wittgenstein- Language games
you have to be a believer to understand the ‘game’
wittgenstein strength 1
avoids confusions eg. verification and falsification
Wittgenstein strength 2
allows a variety eg. art, poetry and music not just scientific norm
Wittgenstein strength 3
recognises the meaning behind the statement of a christian who says ‘there is a God’ rather than ‘God exists’
Wittgenstein weakness 1
discourages debates with secular thinkers
Wittgenstein weakness 2
religion does not attempt to communicate with those outside their community
Wittgenstein weakness 3
religious statements no longer have to be true or false so anyone can make up anything
Wittgenstein weakness 4
there can be no evidence for metaphysical statements
betrand russel: ‘there is a universe’- brute fact
