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Philosophy of religion > religious language > Flashcards

religious language Flashcards

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Religion Crash Course flashcards
1
Q

what is the debate about religious experience

+for and against

A

is it possible to talk meaningfully about God? - epistemic distance
Bible, holy trinity, omni-
reliant on faith, nothing can ever be proved

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2
Q

John

A

1 John 4:8

anyone who does not know love, does not know God, because God is love

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3
Q

what is idolatry

A

worshipping an idea/image of God that’s inaccurate or false

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4
Q

what is anthropomorphism

A

ascribing human characteristics to something that’s not human

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5
Q

what is transcendent

A

God’s nature can’t be described/contained in ordinary language

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6
Q

what is univocal

A

a word only has one possible meaning

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7
Q

what is equivocal

A

word has different meaning in different contexts

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8
Q

what is analogical

A

relating to/based on analogy

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9
Q

what is attribution

A

the action of regarding something as being caused by a person or thing

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10
Q

what is proportion

A

a part, share or number considered in comparative relation to whole

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11
Q

what’s the issue with univocal

A

saying words like loving and good are univocal risks falling into idolatry and anthropomorphism

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12
Q

what’s the issue with equivocal

A

saying religious terms are equivocal risks not being able to say anything about God
problem of attribution

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13
Q

3 premise argument against univocal/equivocal

A

p1 in order for RL to be meaningful, needs to be univocal or equivocal

p2 RL is not univocal because of the problem of anthropomorphism

p3 RL is not equivocal because of the problem of attribution

C therefore, religious argument is not meaningful

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14
Q

what are the two solutions to the univocal/equivocal argument that RL is meaningless

A

Aquinas’ idea of analogy

theological ides via negative

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15
Q

what does Aquinas propose

A

analogical predication, between univocal and equivocal

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16
Q

analogical meaning of good and loving

A

have related meanings when used in different contexts, not exactly the same

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17
Q

Aquinas’ logic for analogical

A

since God created the universe, must be some link between human attributes/predicates

because the words share a likeness, we can infer something about God due to the experience of God

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18
Q

What are Aquinas’ 2 analogies

A

analogy of proportion

analogy of attribution

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19
Q

what is analogy of proportion

A

we don’t know exactly what God’ love entails, only that it is upwards of ours

you can make a downwards analogy from human love to canine love

you can make an upward analogy from human love to God’s love

20
Q

what is analogy of attribution

A

allows us to assign attributes to God

if bread is good, we associate the baker with goodness - we’ve established what good is

we know what constitutes to ‘good’ in relation to mankind, we can understand what ‘good’ means in relation to their creator: God

21
Q

what is a strength of Aquinas’ idea of analogy

A

avoids problem of anthropomorphism and attribution

22
Q

what is a weakness of Aquinas’ idea of analogy

A

if we can attribute our goodness to God, can’t we attribute our badness?
human centric

23
Q

what is the via negativas view on religious language

A

religious langauage is not logical

avoids problems of anthropomorphism and attribution differently

24
Q

what is the via negativa

A

tries to say what things aren’t, rather than are

God is Not evil, not powerless etc

25
Q

strength of via negativa

A

avoids problem of anthropomorphism and attribution successfully

26
Q

what is a weakness of via negativa

A

infinite ways of not to describe God

27
Q

what does Swinburne use to demonstrate success of argument from analogy

A

wave/particle duality of light

we can describe light as both a wave and particle because it displays both characteristics

28
Q

what happens when we use wave/particle to describe light

+ how does this compare to religious language

A

when we use either term, we are stretching their definitions whilst still remaining in contact with ordinary meaning

similarly, we can stretch meanings of words like ‘person’ and ‘knows’ when applied to God, yet they remain in contact with their original meaning

29
Q

who builds on Aquinas’ argument of analogy and how

A

Swinburne

adds to discourse of analogy by demonstrating its practical use with regard to worldly phenomena

30
Q

who put forward the idea of symbolism and why

A

Tillich
symbols are in our everyday reality
symbols point to a deeper level of meaning
e.g. dove - peace, flag - nation

31
Q

why are symbols more elaborate than what meets the eye

A

on the surface, symbols could be an ordinary image/word, but has a deeper level of meaning not included in the dictionary definition

32
Q

why is a sign unlike a symbol

A

a sign has no intrinsic link to a deeper level of meaning, e.g. road sign

33
Q

features of symbols (5)

A

a symbol participates in the reality to which it points
e.g. a national flag participates in the reality of the nation, exemplifies history, culture and identity

points to something beyond themselves

opens up levels of reality otherwise closed off from us

can’t deliberately be created

might grow in meaning and then die out of usage

34
Q

who influenced Tillich

A

Otto

35
Q

what was Otto’s main idea

A

main idea was of the numinous

God is thought to be completely beyond rational comprehension and sensory perception

36
Q

what is God for Otto

A

God is beyond the self and is only known in a feeling if mystery and awe

37
Q

How did Otto influence Tillich

A

influence Tillich with the idea that there are levels of ourselves and reality we don’t normally access, but can through symbolism

38
Q

who is against Tillich

A

Hick

Macquarrie

Alston

Randall

39
Q

how is hick against Tillich

A

little difference between symbol and sign

40
Q

how is Macquarrie against Tillich

A

agrees with hick that there is little difference between symbol and sign
‘clouds are a sign of rain’, but also a symbol
can’t distinguish between the two

41
Q

how is Alston against Tillich

A

symbols are meaningless, we don’t know whether they’re true or not

42
Q

what 4 functions does Randall reduce symbols to

A

motivational - inspire people emotionally (e.g. in religion, a cross)

social - common understanding of religious symbols brings people together

communicational - religious symbols can express beliefs that literal language can’t

indicative - vision of god

43
Q

how is Randall against Tillich

A

God has no cognitive content / does’t convey information
he has been reduced to symbol for human values

if ‘god loves us’ os just a symbol, it tells us nothing at all about an actual being called God
just tells us how important it is that we as human beings feel loved

44
Q

weakness of Tillich

A

if religious language is purely symbolic, then it literally isn’t true

45
Q

weakness of symbols

A

different religions have different symbols, which are more or less accurate?
are they all meaningless as they contradict?

Philosophy of religion (12 decks)

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