Religious Language
this is just what I was taught - not all of this is necessarily on the specification. I've highlighted quotes in blue for convenience
- Created by: queerokapi
- Created on: 29-04-19 11:23
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- Religious Language
- Meaningless
- non cognitive; doesn't convey information
- equivocal: unclear language, ambigious
- Logical Positivists/the vienna circle
- verification principle
- "the meaning of a proposition is the method of verification" Moritz Schlick
- something is meaningful if we know how you can prove or disprove it - doesn't have to be true
- AJ Ayer: Strong and Weak Verification
- Weak: we can't prove it yet, it could only be proved in the past
- "Muhammad is [...] the Messenger of ALLAH"
- "God raised [Jesus] from the dead. We are witnesses of this"
- John Hick - Eschatological Verification
- parable of the celestial city
- "when they turn the last corner, it will be apparent that one of them has been right all the time"
- parable of the celestial city
- Strong - we can verify it immediately using sense experience e.g Mary has red hair
- limitations to verification - blind people, deaf people
- Weak: we can't prove it yet, it could only be proved in the past
- this theory can't be proved by itself
- verification principle
- the falsification principle
- Parable of the Gardener
- religious language isn't falsifiable so it's meaningless
- religious statements die the "death by a thousand qualifications" (A.F.)
- "what would have to occur or to have occured to constitute for you a disproof for the love of, or the existence of, God" Anthony Flew
- loving heavenly father vs loving earthly father
- anthropomorphism
- the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour
- disrespectful! we shouldn't do that!
- Untitled
- disrespectful! we shouldn't do that!
- the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour
- via negativa
- language such as "good" cannot accurately describe God
- we can only describe him in terms of what he is not; "God is not evil", "God is not human"
- this really leaves us knowing nothing about God
- Antony Flew said that all these negatives basically amount to nothing
- this really leaves us knowing nothing about God
- god is beyond assertion and denial "free of every limitation, beyond every limitation" - Pseudo-Dionysius
- Moses Maimonides - using positive statements to describe God is improper & disrespectful
- limits God
- god is ineffable
- as believed in Judaism, God is too great/extreme to be described in words
- but then saying "Not bad" is still limitation through language?
- we can only describe him in terms of what he is not; "God is not evil", "God is not human"
- language such as "good" cannot accurately describe God
- Meaningful
- cognitive: communicates facts
- univocal: clear language, non ambigious
- Blik
- R.M. Hare
- falsification principle is good for cognitive statements but religious language is non cognitive and that's ok
- parable of the lunatic (dons)
- even though he won't let his belief be falsified, his belief is still meaningful because it affects his worldview
- Flew called this argument a "dialectical dud-cheque"
- all Hare has done is develop the "fraudulent substitute" of a blik
- Flew called this argument a "dialectical dud-cheque"
- even though he won't let his belief be falsified, his belief is still meaningful because it affects his worldview
- R.M. Hare
- Parable of the Partisan
- Basil Mitchell
- people do let evidence count against their faith, but due to their commitment to God they believe in him
- Flew responded that humans can change or make mistakes. God can't.
- Language Games
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
- 'In most cases, the meaning of a word is its use'
- different language games for different situations
- jokes
- shopping lists
- scientific papers
- needs evidence
- religion
- doesn't need evidence
- you can't apply the rules of one language game to that of another
- Thomas Aquinas
- analogy
- analogy of proportion
- cat love < human love < divine love
- Ian Ramsey's "models and qualifiers" theory
- model = good
- infinitely good
- qualifier = infinitely
- infinitely good
- model = good
- Ian Ramsey's "models and qualifiers" theory
- cat love < human love < divine love
- analogy of attribution
- people look sick because they are sick
- human wisdom is a reflection of God's wisdom
- people look sick because they are sick
- keeps us at an epistemic distance
- Paul tillich - metaphors/symbols
- closer to poetry than prose
- "kingdom of God"
- problem is metaphors mean different things to different people
- victims of oppresive kings
- symbols change and lose meaning over time
- traditional greek equilateral cross vs current longer latin cross
- although Carl Gustav Jung says humans have always come up with similar symbols
- leads to complete misunderstanding of entire religion
- problem is metaphors mean different things to different people
- analogy of proportion
- analogy
- Moral Discourse
- R.B. Braithwaite
- religion is just metaphorical ways of talking about morality
- "theological prepostions are not explanations of fact in the world of nature in the way in which established scientific principles are"
- analogy
- analogy of proportion
- cat love < human love < divine love
- Ian Ramsey's "models and qualifiers" theory
- model = good
- qualifier = infinitely
- model = good
- Ian Ramsey's "models and qualifiers" theory
- cat love < human love < divine love
- analogy of attribution
- people look sick because they are sick
- human wisdom is a reflection of God's wisdom
- people look sick because they are sick
- keeps us at an epistemic distance
- Paul tillich - metaphors/symbols
- closer to poetry than prose
- "kingdom of God"
- problem is metaphors mean different things to different people
- victims of oppresive kings
- symbols change and lose meaning over time
- traditional greek equilateral cross vs current longer latin cross
- although Carl Gustav Jung says humans have always come up with similar symbols
- leads to complete misunderstanding of entire religion
- problem is metaphors mean different things to different people
- analogy of proportion
- Meaningless
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