Theme 4 Religious Langauge Flashcards
What is the main issue with religious language?
Whether religious language is meaningful or meaningless, given that it discusses non-empirical, often transcendent concepts.
What is the Verification Principle
states that a statement is only meaningful if it can be verified through sense experience or is a tautology.
What challenge does the Verification Principle pose to religious language?
Religious statements, like “God exists,” cannot be empirically verified, so according to this principle, they would be considered meaningless.
Who are the main proponents of the Verification Principle?
A.J. Ayer and the Logical Positivists.
What is the Falsification Principle?
A statement is meaningful only if it can be proven false by empirical evidence. If no evidence can count against it, the statement is meaningless.
Define Cognitive Language
Language that can be assessed as true or false, often associated with factual claims.
Define Cognitive Language
Language that can be assessed as true or false, often associated with factual claims.
Non-Cognitive Language
Language that expresses feelings or attitudes rather than factual statements; often subjective.
Who was Anthony Flew and what was his view
Introduced the Falsification Principle, arguing that for religious claims to be meaningful, they must be falsifiable.
What was The University Debate
The discussion among scholars about the meaningfulness of religious language, particularly the tension between cognitive and non-cognitive approaches, and whether religious statements hold objective truth or subjective meaning.
Which 3 key scholars were part of the university debate
Basil Mitchell, Antony flew, RM Hare
What analogy does flew use?
Two explorers in a jungle and beat whether there is a Gardner
What analogy does RM Hare use
The lunatic who believes all the dons are out to kill him
What analogy does Basil Mitchell use
The strange who meets the resistance fight who claims he is fighting in his side
How does warburton apply the falsification to religious language ?
Warburton applies the falsification principle to religious language, arguing that many religious statements are vague and cannot be definitively proven false. This challenges their meaningfulness, as claims like “God loves everyone” cannot be easily tested against evidence.
