Religious Language Flashcards

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1
Q

Why might people claim that the statement “God loves me” is meaningful?

A
  • It is an assertion of faith
  • Love corresponds to a human experience
  • Gramatically coherent
  • God’s love is different than human love
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2
Q

Why might people claim that the statement “God loves me” is meaningless?

A
  • It doesn’t correspond to a specific image/concept
  • It needs to be empirically verifiable (how does religious language maintain meaning unless it’s verifiable?
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3
Q

What is religious language?

A

Words we use to communicate ideas about God, faith, belief, and religious practices (but people may question how can something hold meaning if it doesn’t correspond with reality)

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4
Q

What are two options to choose from regarding the statement “God loves me”?

A
  • Option A: God’s love is the same as our love and relatable through human experiences [univocal language]
  • Option B: God’s love is different to ours but the word “love” is the closest thing we have to describe God’s benevolence [equivocal language]
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5
Q

What are the issues arising from option A?

A
  • Anthropomorphising God (limiting him)
  • Changes definition of God (negates God’s transcendence/omnibenevolence
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6
Q

What are the issues arising from option B?

A
  • it is an assumption about God, we don’t actually know his nature
  • Not verifiable to human understanding (we can no longer find meaning)
  • Difficult to know what God’s love atually is (potentially does not correspond to reality)
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7
Q

What are general implications for religious language?

A
  • “God” is a metaphysical term referring to a transcendent being which cannot therefore have any literal significance
  • Agnostic statements (anything that includes the term “God” is meaningless)
  • Rejects atheism ~ engages with idea of God
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8
Q

What is Ayer’s verification principle?

A

For statements to be meaningful, they should be factually true (therefore he claims that any truth claims are meaningless if they are neither analytic or synthetic)

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9
Q

What is the difference between strong verification principle and weak verification principle?

A
  • Strong: statements that can be verified strongly by looking physically and measuring them (empirical) (“There are human beings on Earth”)
  • Weak: a statement could be considered meaningful even though it may not be practically verifiable (“Yesterday was Monday”)
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10
Q

What is difference between cognitive and non cognitive?

A
  • Cognitive: describe some features of the world.
  • Non-cognitive: if some statements cannot be true or false and if one cannot know if it is true o false (knowledge is impossible)
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11
Q

What is the difference between a synthetic statement and an analytic statement?

A
  • Synthetic: truth value can only be determined by relying on observation and experience
  • Analytic: such statement cannot be confirmed or refuted by observation or experience (true by definition)
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12
Q

Provide some strengths on Ayer’s verification principle.

A
  • considers the importance of empirical evidence to prove things as true or false
  • consistent with Locke and Hume’s ideas regarding truth and knowledge as part of our senses
  • forms a basis on an attack on religious language
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13
Q

Provide some weaknesses on Ayer’s verification principle.

A
  • arrogant ~ tells people their beliefs are meaningless
  • if weak verification principle allows historical statements to be meaningful, this means religious statements can also be meaningful
  • the verification principle cannot be verified. so it is unknown whether this theory is valid
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14
Q

What is Flew’s falsification principle?

A

We should not prove things as true but are willing to prove things as false (Popper’s theory). Flew claimed that religious language cannot be falsifiable as the statements are used are meaningless as they are updated and changed.

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15
Q

Define these key terms:
- Myths
- Aetiological Myths
- Metaphors

A
  • Myths: stories designed to resolve philosophical problems/dilemmas
  • Aetiological Myths: aetiology is the study of how things came about or are caused. They seek to explain the origin of the universe and its components (e.g. creation myths)
  • Metaphors: figure of speech. A word or phrase used to denote or describe something entirely different from an object or idea
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16
Q

What is an analogy?

A

Likening something to something else in order to bring out the meaning of the original

17
Q

Briefly explain Aquinas’ theory of predication.

A

Since God created the universe, there must be some link between human attributes or predicates (loving, powerful) and God’s (all-loving, all-powerful). In other words, attributes are being used as analogies.

18
Q

What is analogy of attribution?

A

Example: “the baker is good” and “the baker’s bread is good”
If we constitute what “good” means for human being, we can understand something of what “good” means in relation to the creator of human beings. God has whatever it takes to produce human goodness.

19
Q

What is analogy of proportion?

A

Example: a dog can love. Although it is an inferior kind of love to the best human love.
A “downward” analogy can be made. Since we do not exactly know what it is for a dog to love, we also can equally think about this for God’s love (as an “upwards” analogy)

20
Q

Provide some criticisms of analogy.

A
  • Analogy of attribution can be used to prove God as bad
  • If we don’t accept God as creator, we don’t have to accept the idea that we can work out what God is like by examining a creation that is not his
  • Analogy picks out some qualities but not others (i.e., God’s evil qualities)
  • Analogy can tell us nothing new about God, these things already are in existence
21
Q

Explain Swinburne’s views on analogy.

A
  • Analogy of wave/particle comparison to light can be used, as light displays both these characteristics
  • Both words of particles and waves also remain in contact to their original meanings
  • In the same way, we can also stretch meaning of words like “person” and “knows” when applied to God
22
Q

What are symbols?

A

They help us to signify ideas and qualities of an object/word, different from their literal meaning
(i.e., helps us to understand deeper meaning behind novels, stories, and films)

23
Q

Briefly explain Tillich’s claims on symbols.

A

There are different levels of reality beyond the empirical, that can partly be understood through symbolic language

24
Q

What is the difference between signs and symbols?

A
  • Signs: arbitrary representations of something, associated with the thing they represent (e.g., blue flashing light for police cars)
  • Symbol: participates in reality to which it points (e.g., national flag in power of monarch represents passion and love)
25
Q

What are symbols as keys to deeper levels of reality?

A

Symbols open up to levels of reality that would otherwise be closed to us. They can also open up dimensions of the soul that correspond to those levels of reality.

26
Q

What is the idea of the holy? (Tillich inspired by Otto)

A
  • Otto’s original idea: numinous feelings are outside of the self
  • Tillich’s claims: God can be understood as non-symbolically as “Being-Itself” and symbolically as a person
27
Q

What criticisms can be made against Tillich’s claims?

A
  • Religious language being symbolic means that religious statements are not literally true
  • Randall’s four main functions of religious symbols: motivational, social, communicational, indicative
  • Randall: ‘God’ seems to have no cognitive content, he is reduced to a symbol for human value instead
28
Q

Explain Wittgenstein’s view on religious language used as a “game”.

A
  • Truth/reality is defined by language
  • The religious terms only make sense for people who follow the religion
  • Can link to “chess” and how people only understand the terms if they play the game
29
Q

Therefore, how can religion be linked with language of games?

A
  • Meaning is all about convention - just like in a game. There’s a right and wrong way to do things
  • So with religion - there might be conventional and unconventional ways to talk about God.
  • “I believe in God” and “I don’t believe in God” are not contradictory statements - these are simple perspectives that people may choose to take
30
Q

What are D.Z Phillips’ additional claims to language games and religion?

A
  • Religious language is a language game because it is not grounded or criticised in reason: it is a system of its own
  • Statements (“God exists”) are no grounded in belief, but are expressions of belief instead
31
Q

Provide some strengths on language games.

A
  • Connection made with “coherence theory of truth” means statements can be true if they fit with other statements
  • ‘Game’ of language cannot be criticised as it is internally coherent/intelligible
32
Q

Provide some weaknesses on language games.

A
  • Too relativistic (allowing any claims as equally valid)
  • Difficult to challenge truth claims easily
  • Not clear whether Wittengenstein thought of religion as a “language game”, as he wrote little about religion