Via positiva

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  • Anology- Via Positiva
    • Analogy of Attribution
      • Brain Davies
        • only saying what someone is not  gives no indication of what they actually are
          • Miamondies method of arriving at the 'right answer' is unlikely to lead people in the right direction at all
      • Aquinas says  that we cannot say anything  literally true  about God.
        • This is because the use of ordinary human language cannot capture the divinity and so limits him.
          • By looking at a bull's urine, an expert can tell wealthy the bull is healthy; whilst it does not follow that the bull is like a puddle of urine, but the conclusion of health is justifiable.
        • we can make positive claims about God, as long as understand that words have analogical value not literal value .
      • This is because the use of ordinary human language cannot capture the divinity and so limits him.
        • By looking at a bull's urine, an expert can tell wealthy the bull is healthy; whilst it does not follow that the bull is like a puddle of urine, but the conclusion of health is justifiable.
    • Analogy of Proportion
      • John Hick states that both a man and a dog can described as faithful. This is analogical.
      • The words relate to objects that are different in proportion
    • Models and Qualifiers
      • Ian Ramsay
        • Models are words that we use to describe God such as righteous but we recognize that his abilities are unlike ours.
        • Qualifiers are ways in which we anchor our ideas about God within our own experience and then show that God is different to us.
    • Univocal Language
      • Richard Swinburne
        • suggests that sometimes  words can be used univocally to talk about God
          • for example if God is good, this can be interpreted to mean God is just as good as humans, but to a greater degree
            • the theory is unnecessary
              • it is still the same essential quality, just in different ways
      • words that mean the same thing  when udsed in different contexts.
    • Weaknesses
      • we can refute the proportion analogy as some choose to belief that humans weren't 'made in the image & likeness  of God.  This is challenged by Darwin's theory of evolution and rejected by atheist Richard Dawkins
      • Not everyone has the same understanding of different words, so God would appear differently to the individual person.
    • Strengths
      • is the most natural way to speak about God
      • does not allow for the chance to reject God. Positive imagery of God promotes a stronger sense of faith within religious community

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