A2 Religious Language
- Created by: Lauren
- Created on: 16-01-13 11:02
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- Religious Language
- Vienna Circle/Verification Principle
- The Vienna Circle believed that any statement that can't be verified is nonsense
- They came up with the verification principle - a statement is only meaningful if it's a priori/a posteori
- Vienna Circle believed that science provides knowledge and religion and ethics should be avoided
- God can't be discussed in a meaningful way and we can't know whether God exists - no experience can confirm this
- Criticisms
- Swinburne points out universal statements can't be verified
- Statements about history, science and art also become meaningless.
- Criticisms
- God can't be discussed in a meaningful way and we can't know whether God exists - no experience can confirm this
- Vienna Circle believed that science provides knowledge and religion and ethics should be avoided
- They came up with the verification principle - a statement is only meaningful if it's a priori/a posteori
- The Vienna Circle believed that any statement that can't be verified is nonsense
- AJ Ayer/Weak Verification Principle
- Ayer agrees with the Vienna circle - statements must either be a priori/a posteori
- Ayer says we don't have to prove something by a direct observation
- Ayer's verification principle is an improvement on the strict criteria made by the Vienna Circle
- Criticisms
- Hick questions whether the VP makes religious statements meaningless.
- For example, two travellers walking down the road arguing whether it leads to a city. He uses an analogy to link this with a believers view on God/heaven. The statements can be verified at the end of the journey.
- Eschatological verification
- For example, two travellers walking down the road arguing whether it leads to a city. He uses an analogy to link this with a believers view on God/heaven. The statements can be verified at the end of the journey.
- Hick questions whether the VP makes religious statements meaningless.
- Criticisms
- Ayer's verification principle is an improvement on the strict criteria made by the Vienna Circle
- Ayer says we don't have to prove something by a direct observation
- Ayer agrees with the Vienna circle - statements must either be a priori/a posteori
- The Falsification Principle
- Aims to improve on the verification principle.
- It suggests nothing could ever lead to a religious statement being proven false
- Flew believes that religious believers shift the goalposts so much that the claims they make are watered down so they are barely statements at all
- He calls this "the death of a thousand qualifications
- Hare criticizes Flew by explaining that there are "bliks" which aren't verifiable or falsifiable and religious ideas are just some of our bliks.
- Flew questions what would have to happen for the existence of God to be disproved
- Flew believes that religious believers shift the goalposts so much that the claims they make are watered down so they are barely statements at all
- The Via Negativa
- Weaknesses
- Results in a limited understanding of God
- Religious people seek positive knowledge of what God is
- By saying something negative we are implying the positive statement as well
- Strengths
- Prevents anthropomorphic statements being made about God
- More respectful
- Supports the view of many thinkers that God is beyond description.
- Adequately conveys God's transcendence
- "The way of the negative"
- God is different and greater than anything we can comprehend
- So instead of saying what God is, we can say what he's not
- God is different and greater than anything we can comprehend
- Weaknesses
- Using Analogy to Understand God
- An analogy is describing something that is unfamiliar by making a comparison with something we already know
- Aquinas said language can't be used literally of God
- He uses analogy in two ways
- Analogy of proportion
- Analogy of attribution
- Analogy of proportion
- He uses analogy in two ways
- Strengths
- Avoids the twin pitfalls of agnosticism and anthropomorphism
- Hick - Analogy enables us to make some statements about God but still preserve mystery
- Weaknesses
- If God is completely different to humans it's hard to see how words can be used in a similar way
- Aquinas said language can't be used literally of God
- An analogy is describing something that is unfamiliar by making a comparison with something we already know
- Symbol and Myth
- Tillich says that statements about God are symbolic rather than literal
- "God is the ground of being" is the only non symbolic statement that can be made about God
- Symbols have both positive and negative aspects
- Criticisms of Tillich's Views
- J H Randall - language is symbolic but is non cognitive and religious symbols function in a similar way to art. They just tell us about human experience, not external reality.
- Some argue that if religious statements aren't literally true they have no value
- It's hard to be clear what a symbol means, Tillich's ideas are vague
- Bultmann says a myth is the use of imagery to express the other worldly
- A myth draws people in and requires response
- Theologians disagree on the meanings of myths and they can be interpreted differently
- Bultmann tries to demythologise the NT to find the essential message of Christianity
- Tillich says that statements about God are symbolic rather than literal
- Wittgenstein
- The way we see and describe the world is a matter of perspective
- The purpose of language is to enable us to represent the world - he sees words as tools
- He respects religion and realises that it can't be analysed in a scientific way
- Phillips agrees that religious statements can't be understood literally but have a profound meaning for religious believers
- Vienna Circle/Verification Principle
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