Religious Language 20th Century Flashcards
What is a cognitive statement
A factual statement that can be true or flase
What is a non cognitive statement
A statement that does not describe facts, and cannot be said to be true or false
Who was Wittgenstein
20th century Austrian philosopher
What did Wittgenstein say about religious language
Language games theory may permit religious language to be deemed meaningful but not cognitive
What is the language games theory about
How groups of people, when they are all engaged in the same activity, can use words with a meaning they might not have in a different context
What does Wittgenstein’s analogy of the game show
Rules may seem unreasonable but of you want to play the game, you have to accept the rules that have been agreed on by everyone else
what is fideism
the idea that faith and reason are hostile to each other and faith is superior at arriving at particular truths
who are the logical positivists
group of philosophers who met in Vienna in the 1920s and 1930s, were also mathematicians and scientists, also known as the vienna circle
what did the logical positivists argue was the role of philosophers and scientists
philosophers job is to sort out statements into thpse worthy of investiggation and those empty of meaning, scientists job is to invesitate whether they are true or false
what does the verification principle state
a statement is only meaningful if it is analytic (true by definition) or synthetic (verified by experience)
what is the strong version of the verification principle
suported by logical positivists
a synthetic statement is only meaningful if it can be conclusively verified by immediate direct sense experience
considers religious language meaningless
what is the weak version of the verification principle
supported by AJ Ayer
synthetic statements are meaningful if they can be verified in principle (can show what would be required to verify it)
debateable whether religious language is meaninful in this case
how would john hick use the weak verification principle to show that religious language is meaningful
eschatological verification
the idea that religious language can be verified in the afterlife
who was anthony flew
atheist for most of his life, well known for arguments against theism
what did Flew say about whether religious stetements are genuine assertions
they are not genuine assertions because they are unfalsifiable, as believers will never allow them to be disproved instead they make qualifications
what did flew say about whether religious language is meaningful
did not comment
what did Flew say about how believers intend their statements to be understood
believers intend religious statements to be understood as genuine assertions
what is meant by a genuine assertion
a truth claim
what was flews parable
parable of the gardener
explain the parable of the gardener
explorers find a clearing in jungle
disagree on whether there is a gardener, so set up multiple tests to investigate
after each test, the explorer who believers there is a gardener qualifies his original statement saying ‘he must be invisible, intangible, insensible’
what does Flew aim to show with the parable of the gardener
asks the question ‘what would have to occur or to have occurred to constitute for you a disproof of the love of, or of the existence of God?’
argues that for believers, the answer to this is ‘nothing’ meaning belief cant be falsified and therefore is not a genuine assertion
who was Hare
Christian, influenced by wittgenstein
what did Hare say about whether religious statements were genuine assertions
religious statements are not genuine assertions as they are unfalsifiable because they are bliks (groundless beliefs)
what did Hare say about whether religious language is meaningful
it is meaningful as it significantly affects a persons worldview
