Philosophy: Religious Language

Question 1

Univocal language

Answer 1

Univocal language is when a term is used in exactly the same way and to mean the same thing

Question 2

Aquinas’s weaknesses of Univocal language

Answer 2

• Because humans and God cannot be compared, so univocal language is misleading in terms of God.
• Anthropomorphises God (makes him seem like a big human being) he is nothing like humans so this is misleading.

Question 3

Equivocal language

Answer 3

This is to use the same word in a completely different and unrelated sense

Question 4

What is Analogical language?

Answer 4

When the same term is used in a similar, but not the same sense e.g. Winter coat and a coat of paint

Question 5

Analogy of Attribution

Answer 5

A causal relation between the two things being described.
e.g. The baker is good. The bread is good. The baker is a good baker as it relates to him creating good bread. The good baker causes good bread.

Question 6

Connection between God’s goodness and human goodness

Answer 6

• God produced Ellie so there is a causal connection between the two. God is good because He has whatever goodness it takes to make Ellie good.
• However, it is wrong to assume God is morally Good as this would put him in time and had potential to act in one way rather than another - God is timeless so this is not possible. Aquinas believes God is out of time, so he cannot act. Therefore human moral goodness cant be applied to God as a moral act needs to be in time.
  Also suggests that there is another standard of Goodness which God can be judged against

Question 7

Why does Aquinas assume similarities between God and his creatures?

Answer 7

There are similarities between creatures and God, due to the fact that creatures derive from, or are caused by God. Causes and their effects are connected, and the cause reflects its character on the things it has made

Question 8

If God’s world reflects what he is because he is the cause of it, what could be said of God? What problems could arise from this.

Answer 8

• There is evil in the world - so does this reflect evil from God?
  Do evil people reflect evil from God? E.g. Serial murderers and rapists?

Question 9

How does Aquinas respond to the reflection of evil in the universe?

Answer 9

Evil is a privation of good / falling short of potential. God has no potential as he is fully what it means to be God. Therefore he cannot fall short of his potential, whereas humans can.

Question 10

Analogy of Proportion

Answer 10

Something is good in accordance with its nature (Aristotle - fulfilling telos)

Question 11

Analogy of proportion. When believers say that God is good, what are they actually saying?

Answer 11

• God cannot be anything other than what god is (because he is timeless and spaceless…) , therefore he must be perfectly good - he is fully actual and has achieved all potentials, he is fully what it is to be good.

Question 12

A good seagull compared to a good human being.

Answer 12

A good seagull - living by the sea - steals our food - scavenge
A good human being - kind to others, NML - fulfils primary precepts according to Aquinas

Goodness is proportional to the subject.

Question 13

Causes do not always resemble their effects - Kenny, Kingmakers are not kings , dead men are not murderers

Answer 13

Strong: evidence to support this e.g. Peter Vardy is evil which does not represent a good God. Kenny-dead men do not resemble their murderers. Schleiermacher- a perfect world cannot go wrong, so as it has, it must reflect God in some way-couldn’t create enough good!

Weak: evil is a privation of good which cannot be created by God and therefore he is not the cause of this evil . Augustine and Aquinas

Question 14

How meaningful is analogy if we don’t know how the words are related? Proportion and attribution. Equivocal problem.

Answer 14

Strength: if God is outside of the world then we cannot know what he is so using human words to describe him is no helpful. That is why there are different models from God’s omnipotence because we don’t know how power relates to God

Weakness: Evans- we only need a limited amount of information about God as long as we have enough to be able to worship him. There is no problem in God remaining a mystery

Question 15

Analogy leaves us with unclear answer of what God is like Both types of analogy. Equivocal problem

Answer 15

Strength: analogy is supposed to be a way of understanding God, however if it confuses us further then what is the point. Naturalistic fallacy-just because you see order in creation it does not mean there ought to be an intelligent mind behind it.

Weakness Needs to be unclear to overcome the problem of univocal language. knowing too much about God can take away free will, because it removes the choice of loving God because knowing God would mean you would have to love him, therefore there needs to be some level of mystery surrounding God in order to maintain free will. Epistemic distance (Hick). Also, not an unclear answer-Teleological argument-complexity, orderliness and beauty do show and intelligent mind-Tennant and Paley.

Question 16

Analogy allows believers to talk about God but maintains God’s mystery Both types of analogy. Overcomes univocal problems.

Answer 16

Strength: allows us to understand God without limiting his powers e.g. models and qualifiers do this with the qualifier-Ramsey

Weakness: analogies can be interpreted in many different ways so still leaves unclear idea about God. Can you have a personal personal relationship with a God who is too mysterious.

Question 17

Analogy must be meaningful otherwise we would not continue to use it

Answer 17

Strength: we use it to describe experiences because there is no other way to describe them e.g. taste

Weakness: it is the only way at the moment which we can speak about God however it is still a poor way. Because God is so mysterious there will never be a way of speaking about God where we will fully understand him. When we use analogy in other areas of life, we are usually seeing a relationship between two objects already known to us. However, God is not known to humans so this is not the same.

Question 18

Ramsey – use models of God which uses analogy and also use qualifiers to allow for his mystery e.g. Model is power and qualifier would all -so all powerful

Answer 18

Strength: we understand him enough however his powers are not limited

Weakness: even with the qualifiers you still need to translate them univocally for them to be meaningful

Question 19

What does the ‘negativa / apophetic way’ mean?

Answer 19

Focuses on explaining the nature of God by focusing on what God is not.
Based on the fundamental belief that ‘God’ is beyond human understanding and description.

Question 20

What does the ‘positive/cataphatic way’ mean?

Answer 20

Argues that positive statements can be made about God.

Question 21

What are Aquinas’s main arguments regarding language?

Answer 21

He rejected both univocal language (where words are used to mean the same things in all the situations) and equivocal language (where words are used to mean different things in different contexts) when talking about God.
Aquinas believed that there was a ‘middle way’ between the two; a way of talking meaningfully about God. This ‘middle way’ was through using analogies.

Question 22

Explain Tillich’s definition of signs

Answer 22

He says that signs do not ‘participate’ in what they symbolise. This means that signs don’t make any sense if you don’t know what they mean.
Tillich says that signs only point to statements, such as a ‘30MPH’ speed limit. They have no other effect.

Question 23

Peter Cole quote on apophetic way

Answer 23

“by denying all descriptions of God, you get insight into God rather than unbelief…”.
- provides insight and understanding of God.

Question 24

What are Tillich’s 6 characteristics of symbols

Answer 24

1. Points beyond themselves to something else.
2. It participates in that to which it points:
3. Opens up levels of reality which otherwise are closed for us.
4. Unlocks dimensions and elements of our soul which correspond to the dimensions and elements of reality.
5. Cannot be produced intentionally
   Cannot be invented - like living beings, they grow and they die