Falsification principle Flashcards
Who created the falsification principle?
It was developed by Anthony Flew in the 1950s.
the general premise of the falsification principle?
Religious statements are meaningless because there is nothing that can count against religious statements.
What are the strengths of the falsification principle?
Flew shows that religious claims that are
cognitive (factual assertions) are
meaningless because all of the evidence
against the claims are ignored
Believers do not appear to know or be able
to accept what will falsify their claims – ‘die
the death of a thousand qualifications’
What are the weaknesses of the falsification principle?
Similar to the verification principle, it tries to reduce religion to ‘factual propositions’.
Religion explores emotions, morals, hopes and fears etc which can’t be reduced to empirical knowledge.
If you see religion as more akin to poetry and drama than science and maths then you will struggle to see the relevance of the falsification principle.
When religious people make claims about God they believe that there is a truth to them which can’t be known or unknown in this life so verifying/falsifying these claims could be pointless.
Hick’s response to the falsification principle?
He argues that Christianity is verifiable in ‘principle’ after
death.
Therefore:
Religious claims are cognitive
Those claims are subject to eschatological verification
