Falsification Flashcards
What does Flews falsification principal state
-Flews falsification principle states that a statement is factually significant only if there is some form of evidence which could falsify it
This is highly logical and credible as it is in accordance with science it restricts meaning to whatever we have scientific evidence for as it emphasises the use of empirical evidence.
Flews falsification being a posteriori makes his whole argument convincing as it is not reasonable to believe in something you cannot falsify
Parable of the gardener
This parable of the gardener significantly shows that theists always qualify the existence if God they will never just say that God does not exist
Parable of the gardener
Quote
“But just how does what you call an invisible,intangible,eternally elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no gardener at all?”
This whole parable shows that this is completely meaningless if u cant falsify then u might as well believe in anything
What does flew state about qualifying
He states that this qualifying is the endemic evil of theological utterance as nothing can be proven or disproven with empirical evidence. This lack of clarity or testability makes this argument completely irrational
What example does Flew use
He uses the example of “God loves his children”
The child is dying from throat cancer
Instead of being reasonable and logical by saying maybe God doesnt love his children they try to disprove it by claiming Gods love isnt like human love
Flew goes on to say
“God dies the death of a thousand qualification’s”
One major flaw of falsification
Is the epistemic imperialism, it places too much emphasis on science and falsifying using empirical evidence which is a problem for theists as most use fideism which means their belief in God is faith alone, they aren’t seeking to verify or falsify these arguments
Why should statements be meaningless just because it is unscientific?
Links with Wittgenstein’s language games which highlight the fact that statements can have meaning for those within a form of life even if they are not falsifiable or verifiable
“Dont ask for the meaning, ask for the use”
Language has significant meaning to those who belong to the form of life and therefore play the rules of that language game
