Religious Language A2
- Created by: B.S
- Created on: 05-01-15 15:21
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- Religious language
- Vienna Circle
- the group of philosophers who gave rise to the logical positivist movement
- made up of logical positivists
- believe some statements are true others arent
- verification principle
- a statement is only meaningful if it can be verified by actual experience or tautology
- difficulties with the principle
- suggests we cant make statements about history due to no observers
- scientific laws are meaningless
- universal statements cannot be verified
- any statement about work of arts is nonsence
- A.J Ayer - weak verification principle
- language, truth and logic
- he accepts a priori and a posteriori division
- wishes to follow on from Hume and thinkers of the Vienna circle
- Ayer argues that to be meaningful a statement must be a tautology or verifiable in principle
- don't have to directly observe something for it to be true
- Needs to be verifiable in principle
- need to be able to suggest how it could possibly be verified
- where he differs to Vienna circle
- having to directly experience things makes it limiting
- Ayers principle is classed as weak principle
- statements may be meaningful if there is a possibility they can be proven in the future
- history, science and emotions are meaningful in Ayers principle
- criticisms of Ayer
- it in itself is unverifiable
- number of religious statements are verifiable in principle
- eschatology verification?
- language, truth and logic
- Falsification principle
- aims to improve upon limited verification principle
- a principle for assessing whether statements are genuine scientific assertions by considering whether any evidence could disprove them
- Stu & Lou's garden
- Antony flew used this principle and applied it to religious language
- problem with this is cannot be falsified as it is not a genuine statement at all.
- flew used the scenario of two explorers
- they come across an clearing in the jungle and debate if there is a gardener
- after s series of tests one claims there is no gardener whereas the other says he's invisible and uncatchible
- Flew believed that religious believers shift the claims and water them down to a point where they become barely statements
- he called this death of a thousand qualifications, believers will always claim that God has a plan
- his principle is used to call religious language meaningless however this is not Flews point
- criticisms
- Hare - Bliks
- not verifiable or falsifiabel
- Basil Mitchell
- they are not blind to problems of faith. religious believers don't have a grounding of reason
- Hare - Bliks
- aims to improve upon limited verification principle
- Via negativa
- statements about God cannot be accurately made. Beyond our knowledge
- negative statements can be made as we can say what God is not.
- came from Christianity and Judaism however originates from Plato
- Form of Good, good is indescribable and beyond our world
- Pseudo used this to describe God as beyond assertion
- strenghs
- prevents anthropomorphic statements
- more respectable
- supports view of many thinkers
- weaknesses
- limited understanding of God
- not a true reflection of how religious people refer to God
- is it possible to make only negatives without making positive statements as well?
- Analogy
- what is analogy
- compares the normal use of a word to a religious use.
- describing something that is unfamiliar to us by comparing it to something we already know
- types of analogy
- Aquinas argued that language cannot be used literally of God
- analogy of attibution
- the qualities that we ascribe to each other are a reflection of the qualities of God
- The bread and the baker analogy
- Analogy of proportion
- the type of properties that something has depends on the being that possesses the propeties
- the meaning changes depending on the nature of the being that is described
- strengths and weaknesses
- religious language can provide some understanding of God
- too vague
- Hick agrees they help make us able to make statements but not all statements can be proven using analogy
- what is analogy
- Symbols
- religious statements are symbolic but nethertheless cognitive statements
- Tillich believes we can make symbolic statements about God but not literal statements
- Symbolic statements cannot be accurate
- Tillich's view can be seen as vague
- some people argue symbols are unclear when it comes to their true meanings behind them.
- Myths
- some thinkers think myths allow us to convey religious ideas - cognitive knowledge of God
- people struggle to accept them as literally true
- different cultures interpret them in different ways
- Wittgenstien
- language games
- the meaning of words changes depending on the situation they are used in
- you don't understand the meaning of the words/statements unless you understand the context they are used in
- language games
- Vienna Circle
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