Falsification- Anthony Flew Flashcards
Flew
He built on the work of Popper who argued that it is the possibility of falsification that shows a statement to be meaningful, Flew developed this to show that religious statements are meaningless as they are not falsifiable. (They tell us no facts about the world because they can’t be proved wrong).
Flew uses John Wisdom’s parable of the gardener to explain his idea
2 people discover a run down garden. One notices the flowers and guesses there’s another gardener and one notices the weeds and guesses nobody is looking after the garden. Wisdom says this shows how people interpret the same evidence in different ways.
Flew parable of the gardener continued
He extends the parable, he imagines that the 2 people wait for the gardener, but one never turns up. The believer says they still believe, but the other can’t see how this is possible from the lack of evidence. Meaning if nothing can falsify their claim, then they are not talking about the real world.
Religious believers do not accept any evidence that proves their beliefs to be false.
Saying that statements of religious belief are meaningless. Changing belief from new evidence shows that the belief is not meaningful.
Basic criticisms
There are no conditions under which Flew would accept it to be false as many statements which we would consider to be meaningful can’t be falsified.
Flews account of meaning seems too strong as statements about beauty, spirituality or ethics can’t be falsified.
And it strays too far from a common use of language for it to be useful in practice.
R.M.Hare-
Gives the parable of the paranoid student to help understand his criticism of Flew’s theory. The paranoid student can’t imagine being wrong. His statement is unfalsifiable, however Hare says his belief is very meaningful because of the impact on how this student will approach the world. He will twist all evidence to fit with his theory, which means its deeply meaningful in his life.
The parable of the paranoid student
A student is convinced that all teachers want to kill him. He meets nice teachers and after he says they’re being cunning and plotting to kill him, his view doesn’t change.
Hare- bliks
It’s a particular view about the world that may not be based upon reason or fact and that cannot be verified or falsified. A more normal blik is that all events have causes, this cant be falsified easily but is a reasonable assumption. “God exist’s” is a similar blik, it can’t be falsified but influences the way that believers interpret the world in a deeply meaningful way. So if bliks have meaning, Flew is wrong that all meaningful beliefs must be falsifiable.
Basil Mitchell
Mitchell says that Flew misrepresents religious belief when he claims it is unfalsifiable. He believes that the problem of evil offers evidence against the case for religious belief and all believers take this seriously. However he believes the problem of evil isn’t strong enough evidence for many believers to falsify their belief in God.
Mitchell- partisan and the stranger parable
Used to illustrate the concept of non-propositional faith – a trust in God which may be held even when evidence or experience points to the contrary. He argues that the whole point of faith is that you don’t give up as soon as it is challenged. Therefore if they don’t give up, it is meaningful.
Summary of Mitchell
He believes statements of religious belief are both falsifiable (trials of faith) and verifiable (eschatological verification), which makes them meaningful statements about the world.
Swinburne- toys in the cupboard
He argues that unfalsifiable statements can still be meaningful, he gives an illustration that a cupboard full of toys comes alive at night when they can’t be detected. Because we can understand this example, theres no way to verify or falsify it. This shows that some unfalsifiable/unverifiable statements contain meaning in that we can understand them.
