Religious Lang: Ayer/Witt

Question 1

Hick on Ayer VP

Answer 1

God and heaven could be verified in principle. Travellers on road who can’t verify destination but will upon arrival

Question 2

Swinburne criticism VP

Answer 2

Toys in cupboard analogy. Alive at night but return before morning. Not meaningless just because can’t be empirically verified

Question 3

Brummer and D.Z. Phillips on VP

Answer 3

Believe sentences of faith, like poetry and arts, should be regarded in the same way as scientific statements. VP too narrow

Question 4

Cupitt on LG

Answer 4

All language non cognitive, as true and false have no universal meaning, meaning depends on form of life they’re used in.

God isn’t an objective reality beyond faith communities. LG don’t describe reality.

Question 5

Phillips response to Cupitt

Answer 5

‘God’ was a reality beyond scope of philosophy. Not job to comment on truthfulness but question and clarify meaning. Lang could be cog and non cog, depending on form of life it’s used in. Both can be meaningful depending on context.

Question 7

Peter Geach against LG

Answer 7

Cyclical argument- word takes meaning from game, game takes meaning from words and so on