Religious language Flashcards
Cognitive language
Language that is considered to be factual.
statements that can be proven true or false
Non-cognitive language
language that doesn’t convey factual info.
cannot be proven true or false
feelings/emotions
Verification principle
the idea that the meaning of a statements lies in its verification.
any statement that cannot be verified is meaningless
principle is associated with logical positivists
Logical positivists
Obsessed with science and how science can explain everything
they thought philosphy should proceed the same way as science
Moritz Schlick
“the meaning of a proposition is the method of verification”.
Analytic propositions (a prior and deductive)
knowledge is gained through logical reasoning.
it is a contradiction to deny an analytical truth. to refer to a married bachelor for example.
analytical propositions are also known as tautologies
A. J. Ayer
Popularised the verification principle
he argued that the steps taken to verify a proposition are what makes it meaningful
Weaknesses of verification principle
- Verification principle is itself not verifiable. we cannot verify whether every non-cognitive statement is meaningless.
- History is unverifiable.
- some experiences are not verifiable to everyone
- Science sometimes theorises unobservable entities- many astrophysicists believe that around 26.8% of the universe is comprised of “dark matter”. A substance completely undetectable, but necessary to explain the behaviour of matter we can detect.
Anthony Flew and what he says about religion
Associated with the falsification principle as he applied it to religion.
flew attack all religious language and say it cannot be meaningful since there is no way to falsify it.
Falsification principle
A rule that states that the meaningfulness of a statement lies in the method of falsification.
any statement that cannot be falsified is meaningless.
for example, statements about God
Verifiable in practise vs principle
Practise- able to verified in the moment
principle- in theory, there is a way to verify it, but something prohibits this test.
what does Ayer say about God
He does not necessarily say that God does not exist. he simply states that since no statement about God can be verified, there is no point talking about it.
he says atheists and theists waffle the same amount about God.
Karl Popper
Inventor of the falsification principle
he wanted to know why science is progressing and philosophy is not.
he does not talk about religion.
What does Anthony Flew say about religious claims?
Religious believers will never allow any evidence to disprove their claim
for example, Christians hold the belief that “god has a plan” no matter what evidence is offered against it.
“Death by a thousand qualifications”
Every time a believers view is challenged, they modify their assertion slightly. this happens to the point that the original assertion is gone and there is no more assertion to belief.
Parable of the Gardener (condensed)
2 explorers find a clearing
Believer says there is a gardener
other explorer disagrees
try to catch him but dont
believer claims that gardener cannot be sensed
other explore says what is the difference between a gardener who cannot be sensed or seen, and no gardener at all?
Example of difference between verification and falsification
Jesus Rose again:
verification: most of history is just as unverifiable as this. verification doesn’t work for historical events
falsification: find his body and conclude that he did not resurrect
strengths of verification principle
- Looks at the science and the scientific method, since it demands observation of the world empirically.
- it forces philosophers of religion to consider the nature of religious language. it has produced tons of careful analysis of religious language.
R.M. Hare:
He responds to Flew. Flew says that christians do not allow anything to change their beliefs. hare asked, isn’t that what everyone does?
he calls these unwavering beliefs “blicks”
this applies to Atheists as much as Christians
Hick’s Eschatological verification
Hick says that Christian statements about the afterlife and god are verifiable. you just need to die to find out.
Hick also gives the parable of the celestial city
Parable of the celestial city
two people on a road.
one believes there is a city on the end of the road, the other does not. they cannot verify until they reach the end of the city.
they do have the means of verification, they just cannot carry them out.
hick explains this is the same as christian beliefs about the afterlife.
However, Hick says no Christian beliefs about the afterlife are falsifiable as no one can come back.
Mitchell
He wanted to show that religious statements have meaning despite being unfalsifiable and unverifiable.
Mitchell says that believers also make a prior commitment to trust in God based on faith, and for this reason do not allow evidence to undermine their faith.
Mitchell agrees that bliks exist but he holds that a believer will allow a gradual accumulation of evidence to overturn or remove a blik.
Strengths of falsification principle
It challenges religion’s important factual claims. For example, there is a God, God is love. Flew seems to show that these claims are empty, because all the evidence against such claims is ignored by the believer.
Weaknesses of the falsification principle
Falisification is not falsifiable itself.
Falsification attempts to confine “meaningfulness” to factual propositions, but there is a whole realm of human experience that cannot be confined in this way.
