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H573/01 Year 2 Philosophy > Religious Language > Flashcards

Religious Language Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two main questions to ask about religious language?

A

How can we accurately talk about God? Is religious language meaningful/less?

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2
Q

Which scholars use the Apophatic Way?

A

Gregory of Nissa, Moses Maimonides, Pseudo-Dionysius, Meister Eckhart

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3
Q

Which scholars use the Cataphatic Way?

A

Ignatius of Loyola, Francis of Assisi, Aquinas and Tillich

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4
Q

What is another name for the Apophatic Way?

A

The Via Negativa

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5
Q

What is another name for the Cataphatic Way?

A

The Via Positiva

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6
Q

Which scholar criticised Maimonides example of the ship?

A

Brian Davies

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7
Q

What problem does the Apophatic Way avoid?

A

Anthropomorphising God

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8
Q

What two types of Analogy does Aquinas support?

A

Analogy of Attribution and Analogy of Proportion

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9
Q

What example does Aquinas use of Analogy of Attribution?

A

The bull’s urine is healthy, therefore the bull is healthy

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10
Q

What example does Davies use for Analogy of Attribution?

A

The bread is good because the baker is good

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11
Q

What example is used for Analogy of Proportion?

A

The child pianist compared to a concert pianist

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12
Q

What example does Von Hugel use for Analogy of Proportion?

A

Comparing the faithfulness of a dog with a human

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13
Q

What is Ramsey’s modern theory of Analogy called?

A

Models and Qualifiers

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14
Q

Which scholar suggest religious language is symbolic?

A

Paul Tillich

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15
Q

What is a sign according to Tillich?

A

Points towards something outside of itself

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16
Q

What is a symbol according to Tillich?

A

points towards and participates in that to which it points

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17
Q

What does Tillich call God?

A

The ground of being

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18
Q

Give another name for the Vienna Circle

A

The Logical Positivists

19
Q

What theory did the Vienna Circle support?

A

The (Strong) Verification Principle

20
Q

What language was meaningful according to the Strong Verification Principle?

A

Verified by actual experience or is a tautology

21
Q

Give an example of a tautology

A

The round circle

22
Q

What did the Vienna Circle conclude about religious language?

A

It was meaningless

23
Q

What examples did Swinburne use to criticise the verification principle?

A

All ravens are black; the toys in the cupboard

24
Q

What is Ayer’s book called?

A

Language, Truth and Logic

25
Q

What theory did Ayer support?

A

The Weak Verification Principle

26
Q

What did Ayer change about the original Verification Principle?

A

Statements are meaningful if they can be verified in principle

27
Q

What theory from Hick can be used to challenge the Verification Principle?

A

Eschatological Verification

28
Q

Which scholar first adopted the Falsification Principle?

A

Karl Popper

29
Q

What is the debate about religious language and the falsification principle?

A

The University Debate

30
Q

Which scholars were involved in the falsification debate?

A

Flew, Hare and Mitchell

31
Q

What does Flew say about religious statements?

A

They die the death of a thousand qualifications

32
Q

What parable does Flew use?

A

The explorers in the jungle

33
Q

What does Hare suggest all religious believers have?

A

Blicks

34
Q

What example does Hare use?

A

The student who thinks all the university professors are out to kill him

35
Q

What example does Mitchell use?

A

The stranger and the resistence fighter

36
Q

What is Mitchell’s point about believers?

A

They are aware of problems but don’t allow them to destroy their faith

37
Q

Name Wittgenstein’s theory about religious language

A

Langauge Games

38
Q

What is another phrase for a language game?

A

A form of life

39
Q

Why is univocal lanaguage of no use when talking about God?

A

The word means the same thing when applied to humans ans God e.g. love or goodness which anthropomorphises God

40
Q

Why is equivocal language of no use when talking about God?

A

We don’t know what a word means when it is used to talk about God which leads to agnosticism

41
Q

What is cognitive language?

A

Statements that are factual, can be true or false

42
Q

What is non-cognitive language?

A

Statements that are not about facts, are not subject to being true or false e.g. poetry

43
Q

Which scholar would want to use religious language cognitively?

A

Aquinas (any Cataphatic way)

44
Q

Which scholar could be used to argue that religious language is non-cognitive?

A

Wittgenstein

H573/01 Year 2 Philosophy (2 decks)

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