Falsification Principle Flashcards
What is the Falsification Principle?
A statement is meaningful if we know what evidence would prove it wrong.
Example of falsification principle
Aliens live on Saturn.
This may not be true, but it is meaningful because we know how we could go about falsifying it.
FP view on religious language
Falsificationists conclude that all religious language is meaningless.
For example, ‘God is good.’ Christians will believe this no matter how much we try to falsify it.
Hence, with no way of ever falsifying it, it must be meaningless.
Why is religious language not falsifiable?
Flew- all religious language is meaningless because believers do not accept any evidence that goes against their beliefs.
What do religious statements do? (Flew quote)
‘Die a death of a thousand qualifications.’ This means that it becomes so far away from the original statement that the original statement must be meaningless.
What did Flew claim about positive claims?
Flew claimed that any positive claim we make also assumes that we deny its negation.
For example, when I say RS is fun, I am also saying that RS is not, not fun.
What did Flew argue about language?
Language is only meaningful if we can conceive of any evidence that may count against it.
It is only meaningful to say that RS work is fun because students might be able to show contradictory evidence such as boring lessons.
What is Flew’s problem with ‘God talk?’
It often implies that it could never be falsified.
‘I know God loves me in a special way which no one may question or disprove.’ If God is just a mystery, then we cannot use language in a constructive or meaningful way.
What is Flew’s Parable of the Gardener?
‘How can the eternally elusive gardener differ from the imaginary or non-existent gardener?’
This parable uses the example of a two men walking through a garden, and seeing a clearing. The believer sees the clearing as the work of a mysterious gardener, whereas the other dismisses this because there is no empirical evidence. But, the believer does not stop believing despite the other man showing contradictory evidence.
Thus, Flew is conveying that a believer’s belief cannot be falsified and therefore it is not meaningful.
