Falsification Flashcards
Who are the key philosophers?
Popper (original) and Flew (developed).
How does falsification work to make a statement meaningful?
If there is 1 piece of evidence going AGAINST a claim - it can be falsified and therefore proved to be meaningful.
How is falsification easier to apply then verification?
It is easier to prove a statement wrong rather then right and still have it be meaningful.
Why would a statement be meaningless?
If there is no criteria to falsify it.
What did Flew believe about God talk?
That it was unjustifiable and meaningless.
Why did Flew create his parable?
He claimed that God cannot be proved to be real until there is empirical evidence to support it. Put forward the parable to mock religious believers.
Explain Flew’s parable.
The parable of the gardener.
2 people saw a garden that was tended to but never saw the gardener (1 believed in the gardener 1 didn’t). They used traps to try and find him but nothing worked. The believer kept changing the gardeners characteristics so it was explainable why he wasn’t seen (e.g. invisible).
How does Flew’s parable link to God?
He claims that religious believers don’t allow God to be falsified and instead change his traits to suit the evidence present. This means that God talk is meaningless.
Explain Flew’s idea of a “death by a thousand qualifications”.
Because God cannot be falsified and believers keep changing his abilities, his definition becomes watered down.
What are the 2 strengths of the falsification principle?
- Easier to prove something wrong through falsification rather than verification.
- Popper and Flew consider all possibilities.
What are the 3 weaknesses of the falsification principle?
- too rigid in understanding the truth
- God cannot be proved by empirical means - major part of religious belief is faith
- Hare believed falsification principle wasn’t needed as RL aren’t factual statements
