Religious Language Flashcards
Outline cognitive and non-cognitive language
Cognitive - tends to be synthetic, conveys factual information and can be shown to be true or false via sense experience.
Non-cognitive - conveys emotions, gives orders or is a moral statement. Conveys no factual information
Outline logical positivism
Originating from the Vienna Circle in the 20th century, logical positivism proposes that a statement can only be meaningful if verifiable.
A statement can only be verified if they are analytic and therefore true by definition, so a tautology. Or if they can be proven synthetically, through empiricism.
Outline AJ Ayer’s verification principle.
The verification principle allows for more flexibility when deciding if a statement is meaningful or not, compared to the original version.
Verification in practice: requires direct sense experience to support a statement.
Verification in principle: Direct proof does not need to be obtained but we know how a statement could be in principle tested empirically.
What is the implication of the Verification Principle for religious language.
As religious statements are neither empirically verifiable or analytic, religious language is meaningless.
This would also apply to ethical statements which are simply expressions of emotion.
Ayer argues statements such as “God exists” is “nonsensical.”
“no sentence which purports to describe the nature of a transcendent God can possess any literal significance” - Ayer
Outline the strengths of the Verification Principle
Straight forward in the criteria it demands a statement to meet in order to be classified as meaningful.
Compatible with the scientific method and understanding of reality: Modern society values empiricism and views science as the correct way for gaining knowledge. Verification restricts meaning to whatever we have, or can in principle have, scientific evidence for.
Consistent with ideas from other schollars: Locke and Hume simialrly argue that truth and knowledge are gained via the senses.
Ayer’s weaker version is more applicable as it allows for statements about history.
