Philosophy: 20th Century Religious Language Flashcards
What is the verification principle?
A statement is only meaningful if it can be proven synthetically or analytically
What is weak verification?
Weak verification are those statements which cannot be verified by direct observation but other observations (second hand).This tends to lead to a probable conclusion
—> Most historical facts are weak
What is strong verification?
Strong verification are those statements which can be verified by direct observation and lead to a definite conclusion e.g. Kate has brown hair.
—> i.e. a first hand account
What is meaningful in Practice?
We can directly observe an object/fact.
E.g. I have brown hair, I can observe my hair and see that it is brown
What is meaningful in Theory?
Other things are more difficult to verify in practice but could be verified in theory. In other words, we would know how to set about verifying them through sense experience or observation, even though it probably would never happen in practice e.g All Leopards have spots.
What is Wisdom’s parable?
Gardener:
What does Wisdoms parable mean?
Under Ayers verification, religious statements could be weakly verified.
What is Hick’s parable?
Two people journey down the same road. One, who believes in God, interprets all the experiences as religious and trials sent by God. The other, who is non-religious, interprets the experiences as either good/bad fortune. Only when they reach the end will the truth be known.
What does Hick’s parable mean?
Religious language could only be verified after death, in the afterlife.
What is Eschatological verification?
Religious statements will be proved true but not false at the end of our lives
What is cognitive language?
Statements which are factual and add to our knowledge through empirical evidence.
What is non-cognitive language?
Is not factual but does impact on our beliefs, values, morals and the way that we live our life
What is Flew’s parable?
Two explorers came upon a clearing, there were many flowers and many weeds. One says, “Some gardener must tend this plot.” The other disagrees, “There is no gardener.” They pitch their tents and set a watch. No gardener is ever seen. Perhaps he is an invisible gardener.” So they set up a barbed-wire fence. They electrify it and patrol it. No gardener is detected. The Believer is not convinced. “But there is a gardener, invisible, intangible, insensible, to electric shocks, a gardener who has no scent and makes no sound, a gardener who comes secretly to look after the garden which he loves.” His friend asks “But what remains of your original assertion? Just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no gardener at all?”
What does Flew’s parable mean?
If we try to explain God by saying that he is invisible, soundless, incorporeal and so on, there is very little difference between our definition of God and our definition of nothingness.
Flew suggests that we argue God out of existence by a ‘thousand qualifications’. In other words, if we continually outline what God is not, we eventually end up with nothingness.
1 strength of Flew
there is a lot of evidence to support it concerning the way that believers respond to challenges (e.g. the Theodicies, claiming that God’s love is different to ours etc).
