Falsification Theory

• It is a scientific theory that was applied to philosophy
• It states that a statement is meaningful if it can be falsified
• As religious views are subjective they are therefore meaningless

• He was the first to apply the falsification theory to philosophy
• HE DID NOT COME UP WITH THE FALSIFICATION THEORY
• He was an empiricist
• He said scientifical statements are about empirical evidence and are therefore meaningful
  
• example: "einstein's theory of gravity is meaningful because it has the potential to be falsified"

• main person for arguing for this principle
• He used the jungle analogy
• He stated that God talk was meaningless
  
• Religious believers make "God die a death of a thousand qualifications"
• All God arguments are meaningless

"one of the explorers repeatedly modifies the qualities he attributes to an alleged gardener who looks after the forest clearing"

• This believer is the theist --> causing God to die a death of a thousand qualifications
• The other person claimed that the clearing was there by chance --> ATHEIST

• Used the example of the lunatic
• said Blicks were a way of seeing the world
• there are sane and insane blicks
• Blicks are unfalsifiable as they are subjective
• He believed religious statements should not be treated like scientific statements --> this is similar to wisdom

• theists are not wrong just because we can't falsify it
• analogy of the garden
• religious langauge statements are reasonable statements
• the existence of God is outside scientific enquiry --> cannot be falsified
• things are meaningful to the person who believes them

• the analogy of the partisan
  • some people's beliefs may seem strange to others
    
• against Flew's "death of a thousand qualifications"
  • states religious believers do accept evidence against their faith
  • e.g. Augustine --> accepts the problem of evil
• suggests that religious statements are potentially statements about how the world is
  • statements are meaningful
  • any claim about the world is falsifiable

• uses the toys analogy
  • just because we cannot see toys become alive when we leave the room does not mean they don't
• against the falsification theory
• even if statements are not falsifiable they can still be meaningful
• "God's existence can be understood as a concept, even though it cannot be proved true or false"

• rejected the falsification principle
• statements cannot be falsified anymore than they can be verified
  • adds nothing that verification doesn't
• evidence may suggest it is false BUT that doesn't mean it is impossible that it could be true
• maintains that weak verification is the most appropraite method

• ESCHATOLOGICAL VERIFICATION is the only method
• the afterlife cannot be falsified in this life

• to Hare
  • Flew likes the idea of blicks
  • states theists would dislike their religion to be only blicks
• to Mitchell
  • theological statments still have to be explained
  • agrees some christians understand the problem of evil, as a real challange to religion
• Flew has no issue with subjective statements about God BUT with statements that include the world with God