Religious Language Flashcards
What is the verification principle?
A statement is meaningful if and only if;
It can be verified analytically (true within its meaning)
Or it can be verified empirically (through experience)
Criticise the verification principle.
The criteria are too strong, a lot of what humans speak about cannot be verified empirically or analytically, such as the concept of beauty or inner feelings.
Also, the principle itself is meaningless because it doesn’t pass its own criteria. It is not true by definition, nor can we verify it empirically.
How does Hick defend religion against the verification principle?
Hick argues that religious statements can be verified eschatalogically, and therefore they are meaningful.
Explain the parable of the celestial city.
Two men are travelling together along a road. One of them believes that the road leads to the celestial city, the other believes that it leads to nowhere. During the journey they are faced with both happiness and hardships. The one who believes in the celestial city perceives the happiness as rewards and the hardships as obstacles or trials. The other doesn’t believe this and just enjoys the good and endures the bad. But neither of them will know the truth until they get there.
Explain Falsification and Flew’s invisible gardener.
A statement is only meaningful if it can be proven wrong. Religious statements are not meaningful because believers refuse to admit that God might not be exactly what we believe him to be - ‘God dies a death of a thousand qualifications’.
Two people come across a garden of flowers and weeds. One suggests that there is a gardener that tends to it, the other believes it has come about by chance. They wait for the gardener to come but nobody comes, the believer suggests that the gardener is invisible. They put up wires and sniffer-dogs but there is no evidence of the invisible gardener, which leads the believer to say that it is an invisible, odourless and intangible gardener. This carries on and he believer continues to overcompensate for the gardener.
Explain Hare’s bliks and the parable of the lunatic.
Blik’s are attitudes and interpretations of the world. People hold beliefs on their bliks because it is merely their perspective of the world.
A man is convinced that every don wants to kill him. No matter how many friendly don’s he meets, he holds his belief that they are going to kill him. He holds this belief because it is how he perceives the world.
Explain Mitchell’s response to Flew and the partisan parable.
You are a member of the resistance and you meet a partisan claiming to be on your side. You see him acting for and against the movement, you are slightly worried but you continue to trust him. You still believe him even though there are things that could prove you wrong.
This shows that religion can be falsified but people can still believe in it.
Explain Wittgenstein’s language games.
Wittgenstein believes that there is no such thing as ‘the’ meaning of a word or sentence because there are so many ways that language can be meaningful. In order to find the meaning of a word we must look for how it is used.
Statements are meaningful so long as they are understood by other language users in a specific context, therefore things like art, poetry etc. Are meaningful.
Science and religion are two different games, they are not in competition with each other. When a believer says ‘God exists’ it is not the equivalent to a scientist saying ‘duck billed platypuses exist.
Criticise Wittgenstein’s language games.
This means that believers in things that clearly aren’t real like mythical creatures, can claim that their beliefs are meaningful as long as they have a set of coherent rules.
Essay plan for religious language.
A - Verification principle
C - Hick’s eschatological verification + celestial city
E - Religious language is meaningful
A - Flew, invisible gardener (Non-Cognitive)
C - Hare, bliks (Cognitive)
E - Bliks allow any beliefs - even lunatics
A - Mitchell - Partisan (Cognitive)
C - Non-cognitive, Wittgenstein’s language games
E - Things that aren’t real can be made meaningful if they have coherent rules
