Religious language Flashcards
Logical Positivism
A philosophical approach taken by the Vienna Circle
Claimed that metaphysical and theological language are literally meaningless
What so logical positivists claim are two types of meaningful language?
Synthetic- dependant on evidence
Analytic- true by definitions
What is Verification PRINCIPLE
The meaning of a statement is its methods of verification
Eg: ‘my car is parked on the road outside’ can be verified by looking outside
It’s sense by experience
Who came up with the V principle
AJ AYER
What is cognitive language
Language that is shown to be true or false depending upon evidence
What is non cognitive language?
Conveys emotions, give orders or make moral claims
Eg; “I am happy”
Ayer- a statement is meaningful if only if it ….
Analytic (true by definition)or empirically verifiable
VP - application to religious language
AYER argued that statements like “god loves you” cannot be verified either in practice or principle - THERFORE MEANINGLESS
Strengths of VP
Focus only on facts.
In line with science and scientific methods
Demands a sense of reality in what we say about the world.
Weakness of VP
It rules out a lot of language is meanigless( statements about history and feelings r MEANINGLESS)
Only works when discussing matters fact.
Challenges to Ayer VP
Principle itself is not verifiable according to VP
Ayer response to the VP not being verifiable
He argues it was a convention statement , hence it does not make a factual claim the fore Cannot be used against itself.
What Is falsification?
When making a cognitive claim, you should be able to to try and falsify it
KARL POPPER
Summary of PARABLE OF THE GARDENER
2 explores in the jungle. One said there must be a gardener tending to the plot , the other says there is no garder
The explorers pitch their tent , no gardener is seen…….
Anthony Flew gives the following analogy in an attempt to show that reli
parable of the gardener in relation to religious language
Gardner is god, believer is theists, sceptic is atheist.
it shows that no empirical tests show that he is present
Flews’ thoughts on the POTG
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.
Strengths of the falsification principle
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
It attempts to confine ‘meaningfulness’ to factual propositions, but there is a whole realm of human experience that cannot be confined in this way
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
what is eschatological verification?
Refers to Hick’s view that the ‘facts’ of the Christian religion will be verified (or falsified) after death
what is Hick’s response to VP and FP – eschatological verification
The Christian concept of God is verifiable because it is verified eschatologically
Hick is claiming that the ‘facts’ of Christian religion will be verified (or falsified) to you after death
so religious language…
Summary of the parable of the celestial city
2 men travelling, only 1 road.
the theists believe there is a celestial city at the end of the road, atheist believe it don’t lead to anywhere.
strengths of Hick’s argument
weaknesses of Hick’s argument – POV of the parable of the celestial city
Who came up with the idea of a Bilk
HARE
summary of the parable of the lunatic
Flew’s reply to Hare’s view
Strengths of Hare’s theory of bliks – explains differences in religions
Weaknesses to Hare’s theory of bliks – believers do not see their beliefs as non-cognitive
Weaknesses to Hare’s theory of bliks – religious claims are cognitive
Wittgenstein’s famous quote + meaning
what is language game?
Strengths of Wittgenstein’s language games
Avoids confuision
strengths of Wittgenstein’s language games
strengths of Wittgenstein’s language games – ‘belief in’, ‘belief that’
weaknesses of Wittgenstein’s language games – discourages debate
strengths of cognitivism
strengths of non-cognitivism
What does the P of the Celstial city illustrate ?
- ‘god exists’ is not meanigless because it is eschatolgicaly verifable
- if ‘God exists’ is false, then it us unfasifialbe
- But if ‘God exists’ is flase, then it is unfalsifiable
