Religious Language: The verification and falsification principle Flashcards
What is religious language/what does it refer to?
Religious Language refers to the words which we use in order to communicate ideas about God, our faiths or our beliefs
What is an example of religious language?
“God loves me” “God loves us”
What are the different forms of language/religious language?
cognitive
non-cognitive
analytic statements
synthetic statements
What is cognitive (realist) language?
factual and MORAL statements that can be proven true or false via empirical evidence (they are subject of being either true or false, and nothing else)
What are non-cognitive statements
These are context dependent and cannot be verified nor can they be falsified
What are analytic statements?
These are true by definition (tautology) and cannot be false
These are a priori
What are synthetic statements?
These are A POSTERIORI statements which can be verifiable or falsified through empirical evidence
These are considered to be meaningful as they can (in theory) hold verifiable or falsifiable truths
Who were the group of men that argued that there are only TWO types of statements that are meaningful?
The Logical Positivists
What did the logical positivists argue?
There are only two types of statements which are meaningful: tautologies, and statements that can be verified by some kind of a test
What is the verification principle?
-statements can only be meaningful if they can be demonstrated
“a statement which cannot be conclusively verified…is simply devoid of meaning”
what are the two types of statements which A.J Ayer and his verification principle
analytic propositions (true by definition)
synthetic propositions (true by the confirmation of the senses)
what are the various different types of verifibility in principle
practical verification
strong verification
weak verification
directly verifiable
indirectly verifiable
what does it mean by practical verifibility (in principle)
these are statements that can be tested in reality. Even though they are meaningful and verifiable in principle, in practice we may lack the technical ability to test these particular statements out
what is strong verification
strong verification applies to anything that can be verified conclusively using empirical evidence
what is weak verification
weak verification refers to statements that can be shown to by probable by observation and experience
what are the new criteria that Ayer suggested
directly verifiable: these are observation statements
indirectly verifiable: states which are not completely meaningful/verifiable by themselves but can be made meaningful/can be supported by other directly verifiable statements
what are the criticisms of the verification principle
why was the falsification principle created?
The verification was not able to be adjusted even though its criticisms have become evident throughout its existence, therefore encouraging Anthony Flew to create the falsification principle.
Who did the falsification principle originate from?
Although the falsification principle originated from Karl Popper, Anthony Flew was the one who finalised the falsification principle.
What does the falsification principle claim?
Statements are only meaningful if they have the ability to be ‘falsified’: proving a theory or statement to be false through evidence or testing.
What is the name of the parable that Flew made to allow us to see the falsification principle in practice?
‘The Parable of the Gardener’
Two explorers come across a carefully tended jungle clearing. One explorer (The BELIEVER) continues to insist that there must be a gardener at work in the face of multiple failed attempts by the second explorer (The SCEPTIC) to catch the gardener at work.
-The believer will allow nothing to count against his belief in the gardener, so Flew/the second gardener insists that his belief is meaningless.
Why is the Parable of the Gardener important when we talk about Religious Language/Statements?
When many believers talk about religious statements, assertions or beliefs, when somebody questions them on it or attempts to falsify their statement, they immediately disagree and allow nothing to counter against their belief.
-This is the reason why Flew says that religious statements die a “death of a thousand qualifications”.
What other scholar supports the falsification principle and what parable to they use to present their view?
-John Hick
-Hick’s invisible, intangible, inaudible, weightless and odourless rabbit
-As this rabbit’s existence cannot be falsified, Hick and Flew would argue that it does not exist.
