religious language

Question 1

cognitive statments

Answer 1

• subject to being proven true or false
• evaluable

Question 2

non cognitive statements

Answer 2

-not subject to being proven true or false
-eg where is devon

Question 3

what do logical positivist argue about language?

Answer 3

statment only meaningful if it can be proven true or false

Question 4

Synthetic

Answer 4

can be verified through empirical evidence

Question 5

Analytic

Answer 5

true by definition
dont need empirical proof
a bachelour is an unmarried man

Question 6

Meaningless

Answer 6

cannot synthetically or analytically prove it
Ayer calls it GOD TALK

Question 7

Problem with Synthetic

Answer 7

because of flawed nature of human beings, empirical evidence cannot always be relied upon

Question 8

via positiva

Answer 8

• we cannot use human language to effectivley describe God as he goes beyond our understanding

Question 9

via negativa

Answer 9

-we can know and understand elements of god from scrpiture

Question 10

Aquinas and Analogy

Answer 10

-puts forward doctorine of analogy
-human language can never fully capture nature of God
-however just because the language we use can never capture his essence does not mean that it has no value

Question 11

How did Aquinas group language

Answer 11

-univocal
-equivocal
-analogous

Question 12

univocal language

Answer 12

-means the same thing regardless the context

Question 13

equivocal language

Answer 13

-term that can have more than one meaning
-chages dependent on context

Question 14

what does aquinas argue about religious language

Answer 14

-sit imbetween univocal and equivocal
-its ANALOGICAL

Question 15

Analogy of attribution

Answer 15

-God made the world and everything in it
-therfore there must be a commonality between humans, the universe and God
-can find out about God throught creation

Question 16

analogy of proportion

Answer 16

-words applied to god are not use univocally or equivocally but proportionally
-quality like goodness in proportion to god divnity

Question 17

Paul Tillich argues

Answer 17

-religious language is symbolic

Question 18

symbol?

Answer 18

points to a meaning beyond the physical thing it represents

Question 19

issue with symbols

Answer 19

-temporally relative
-symbol can be associated and evoke different responses across time

Question 20

biblical exaple of tomporally relative symbol

Answer 20

-Christ is a king
-back then unlimited power
-now power has limits

Question 21

Tillich on ‘God is love’

Answer 21

-functions same way as symbol
-more than simply making statment

Question 22

Why does Hick think Tillich symbolic language weakens religious claims

Answer 22

• If belief affects meaning, then religious symbols function more like signs, not symbols that reveal reality
  -so symbolic language cannot make reliable claims about God

Question 23

Verification Principle

Answer 23

-statment only meaningful if it can be verified conclusivley through expeirnece (synthetic) or if its a tautology (analytic, true by definition)

Question 24

strong verification

Answer 24

-can be conclusivley proven empirically

Question 25

weak verification

Answer 25

-it is possible for it to be proven in future or past

Question 26

who came up with verification principle

Answer 26

AJ Ayer

Question 27

Problem with strong verification

Answer 27

-Ayer himself agrees human senses are flawed, cannot be relied upon for conclusive proof -renders almost every meaningless, cannot observably verify any historical events

Question 28

strength weak verification

Answer 28

-gives more flexibility -relies on statment being probable not provable

Question 29

any discussion of God for Ayer

Answer 29

-all discussion meaningless by standards of weak and strong verification

Question 30

what was ayer

Answer 30

logical positivist

Question 31

Criticisms of Logical Positivism Brummer

Answer 31

-Brummer argues its wrong to view religious sentances in same camp as acientific ones -eg poetry produces truth impossible to analyse scientifically -this does not mean it does not exist

Question 32

Falsification principle

Answer 32

-Flew -Statement only meaningful if can be proven false

Question 33

Quote Flew religious statements

Answer 33

'die a death of a thousend qualifications' -meaningless

Question 34

Hare analogy of madman

Answer 34

-madman believes all dons are out to kill him -friends stress this is not true, no evidence -however he is still adimant

Question 35

Hare bliks

Answer 35

-non fllasifiable, personal way of interpreting the world -can be sane or insane

Question 36

Mitchell religious statements

Answer 36

-significant articles of faith -impact on individuals life -therefore meaningful

Question 37

Flew parable of the Gardner

Answer 37

- two people come across garden so beautiful wonder if gardner looking after them -skeptic says there is no gardner as cannot see -believer sets various traps to catch garner bt never appears -beliver argues gardner must be invisible or intangible -refuse accept falsifying criteria : meaningless

Question 38

Mitchell parable of the Partisan

Answer 38

-partisan trust a stranger who claims to be on his side -stranger sometimes acts in favour of partisan sometimes against -friends of partisan ask why he still trusts him -despite this continues to have faith in partisan -meaningful, arrticle of faith, personal intimate meeting