P1 - Religious Language Flashcards
what is logical positivism
the philosophical approach taken by the Vienna Circle: a group of philosophers who met in the city during the 1920s-30s.
claimed that metaphysical and theological language are literally meaningless, because they are neighter matters of logic nor provable by empirical evidence
what do logical positives claim are the two types of meaningful language
synthetic propositions:
- propositions that are dependent on evidence
- e.g. ‘the sun will rise tomorrow’
analytic propositions:
- propositions that are true by definition, self-evident
- e.g. ‘all bachelors are unmarried men’
what is the verification principle
the meaning of a statement is its method of verification
e.g. the meaning of the statement, ‘my car is parked on the road outside the house’ can be verified by looking outside the house
Verification is by sense experience - e.g. sight
What book did Ayer promote Logical Positivism in
Language, Truth and Logic (1936)
what is cognitive language
if it conveys factual information, and most cognitive statements are synthetic (they are shown to be true or false depending upon evidence)
e.g. ‘Hong Kong is a city’, it is cognitive because it claims to give factual experience
what is non-cognitive language
to say that it is inappropiate to ask whether or not it is factual
non-cognitive statements may convey emotions, give orders, or make moral claims
e.g. ‘I am happy’, it is not proved true or false with reference to facts
Ayer – a statement is meaningful if and only if it is…
analytic (true by definition/ a tautology)
or
empirically verifiable
Ayer’s verification principle – application to religious language
Ayer argued that statements like: ‘God loves you’, ‘God exists’, etc. cannot be verified either in practice or in principle
there is no evidence by which we could show these claims to be true or false, so they are literally meaningless
cannot be reduced to a set of statements about evidence
Ayer’s quotes on the application of verification principle on religious language
“No sentence which purports to describe the nature of a transcendent god can possess any literal significance”
Ayer’s quote in relation to the assertions made by those who believe in God
“His assertions cannot possibly be valid, but they cannot be invalid either. As he says nothing at all about the world, he cannot justly be accused of saying anything else, or anything for which he has insufficient grounds”
what does Ayer’s verification principle imply for religious beliefs
Christian statements about the Trinity, God as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit or statements about life after death – there is no way of checking whether these are true or false
to Ayer, the claim that God exists is neither true or false, but is meaningless
same with an atheist’s claim that God does not exist, it is not meaningful
strengths/ advantages of the verification principle – straightforward demands
the VP is straightforward in what it demands
- meaningful statements are either tautologies or verifiable by sense experience
- brackets out all questions of emotion or commitment, concentrating only on the facts
strengths/ advantages of the verification principle – in line with science
the VP is in line with science and the scientific mehtod
since it demands that we observe the world empirically
strengths/ advantages of the verification principle – demands a sense of reality in what we say about the world
VP demands a sense of reality in what we say about the world
- it points out one major issue with religious language, namely those who try to justify their religious statements – there surely needs to be some justification for religious claims
weaknesses/ disadvantages of the verification principle – demands of the verification principle are too narrow
the demands of the VP are too narrow
- although it is straightforward, it does not mean it is wright
- it rules out a lot of language as meaningless, so statements about history and feelings are meaningless
- only works as an argument when discussing matters of fact, not interpretation, hopes, fears, etc, human engagement
weaknesses/ disadvantages of the verification principle – to say that it is in line with science has problems
much of science deals with entities that cannot be directly observed (e.g. quarks and strings)
how can this be verified by the VP?
Science also doesn’t work exclusively through verification, rather through falsification instead
weaknesses/ disadvantages of the verification principle – a clear proposition from religion
there are valid criticisms of some religious language, but religion makes a very clear proposition about God and the origin of the universe
arguments for the existence of God – either the universe explains its own existence or else its existence is explained by an external creative mind
this is a reasonable hypothesis based on our observation of the world and creators
challenges to Ayer’s VP – allows ‘verification in principle’, applicable to biblcial statement
‘verification in principle’ – it is enough to know how in theory a statement can be verified to render it meaningful
in that case, it could be argued that the Bible can supply verification for religious statements (e.g. eye witness accounts of Jesus’ resurrection)
many historians accept that the eyewitness accounts from a particular period in a nation’s history are also acceptable evidence
therefore, Statements about Jesus can therefore be verified in principle as historical claims
challenges to Ayer’s VP – the principle itself is not verifiable
the principle itself is not verifiable according to the VP
the VP is not a tautology and it is not verifiable in principle, therefore by its own criteria, it is meaningless and cannot be used to comment on the meaningfulness of religious language
Ayer’s response to the VP not being verifiable
Ayer argued that it was a convention/ policy statement, hence it does not make a factual claim and therefore cannot be used against itself
not a strong argument:
- if the verification principle is a factual statemnet, then it is meaningless as it cannot be verified
- it is not a logical statement, no logical truths
- if it is a policy statement, then it ammounts to little more than an arbitrary assumption of what Ayer thinks should be the case
what is falsification
by making a factual/cognitive claim, you should be able to specify what it is that could falsify the claim, this is used in science primarily and also used to challenge the meaningful of religious language
through work of Popper – argued that science works primarily through falsification rather than verification
summary of the parable of the gardener
there were two explorers in a clearing in the jungle. one said there must be a gardener tending to the plot, the other saying that there is no gardener
explorers pitch their tents, no gardner is seen, explorers added a barbed-wire fence and electrified it
no movements, no shrieks heard yet the believer is still convinced htat there is an invisible gardner
the sceptic despairs and asks ‘what remains of your original assertion
parable of the gardener in relation to religious language
gardener is God, believer is theists, sceptic is atheists
garden is the world, tended plot represents the order and design in the world
fence, etc. shows that no empirical tests show that he is present
What does Flew think of the parable of gardener
thinks that the gardener’s existence ‘dies the death of a thousand qualifications’ because every time he fails to be detected, the ‘believer’ qualifies what he means by his gardener
- the believer in the parable will allow nothing to falsify his belief that there is a gardener who loves and looks after his garden, would allow nothing to falsify his belief in God
what is the falsification principle
a sentence is factually significant if and only if there is some form of evidence which could falsify it
- a sentence is factually significant if and only if there is some form of evidence which could falsify it
Flew’s falsification in application to religious statements
statements like ‘god has a plan’, ‘god created the world’, etc. are not proper assertions, since it appear to have no instances where the believer wouuld be prepared to admit that ‘there isn’t a God after all’, or ‘God doesn’t really love us
e.g. ‘God loves his children’ - Flew refers to a case where a child is dying of inoperable throat cancer, the Heavenly Father appears to show no signs of concern, the believer would qualify his original statement by suggesting ‘God’s love is not human love’, this may continue to go on in order to justify their belief
strengths of the falsification challenge – empty claims
where religion makes important factual claims (e.g. ‘there is a God’, ‘God loves us’)
Flew seems to show that these claims are empty, because all the evidence against such claims is ignored by the believer
they cease to be real assertions, because they die ‘the death of a thousand qualifications’
weaknesses of the falsification challenge – confining ‘meaningfulness’
similar to VP, it attempts to confine ‘meaningfulness’ to factual propositions, but there is a whole realm of human experience that cannot be confined in this way
emotions, moral dilemmas, hopes, fears, etc. cannot be easily described using only facts
weaknesses of the falsification challenge – religious claims
when religious believers make claims about God, these are not unrealistic speculations
they assume that there is a truth to be known about the nature and origin of the universe, and that ‘God’ is a reasonable explanation for that truth
falsificationism is too rigid in its understanding of truth
weaknesses of the falsification challenge – science and religion are different
Falsification principle was concerned mainly with scientific statements
statements about God are metaphysical, not scientific, so it seems inappropiate to demand that they should be empirically falsifiable
weaknesses of the falsification challenge – ‘believers would allow nothing to falsify their assertions’
Flew’s argument that religious believers will allow nothing to falsify their assertions is not really true
e.g. the extent of the problem of evil has led many believers to question or reject their belief in God
what is eschatological verification
refers to Hick’s view that the ‘facts’ of the christian religion will be verified (or falsified) after death