Religious language 2

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  • Created by: 11rsims
  • Created on: 28-05-18 19:50
who are the logical positivists?
A group of people who belonged to the Vienna circle in the 20’s and 30’s & rejected non cognitive (fact free claims), They were influenced by Wittgenstein who suggested meaningful language is connected with the things we know from your senses
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LP believe language is only meningful if it is analytically and synthetically verifiable. what is analytic and synthetic?
Analytic=a priori and inductive (true by definition) eg. A bachelor is male, Synthetic=a posteriori and deductive (true by sense information), meaning behind an assertion can be tested eg, if i say it is raining i can go outside and check
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why do LP disagree with religious language?
It is meaningless to talk about God as statements cannot be analytically or synthetically verified, LP rejects understanding of meanings we cannot prove as it results in misunderstandings, it results in subjective interpretations of God
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What did Ayer believe?
“A statement which cannot be conclusively verified...is simply devoid of meaning” A statement only has meaning if it is analytically (true by definition-a circle is square) and empirically verifiable-statements can only be meaningful if demonstrated
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do religious claims really tell us anything?
•Religious claims are non-cognitive and impossible to verify so it doesn’t really tell us anything •If talk of God is non-empirical then it is unintelligible and is therefore meaningless
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what is the strong verification principle?
Directly verifiable statements are ones verifiable by observation such as post boxes are red, However how much can we really verify because we wasn’t there to observe certain events or test it such as when King Harold died in the battle of Hastings
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what is the weak verification principle?
Indirectly verifiable statements are ones which are not directly verifiable. Scientists demonstrated black holes exist in space but can’t directly observe it
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why might the statement god exists have empirical content?
Many people think that “God exists” does have empirical content for example the design argument may be reason to believe that God exists and the problem of evil may be reason to believe he doesn't exist
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what did Hick believe?
eschatological verification-experiences of God in the afterlife would establish the truth of the existence of God. Is saying God talk is meaningless Ayer is overlooking possible experiences of life after death
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what did Flew believe
religious language is meaningless as nothing could prove to a believer that God does not exist not even proof of evolution would let them come up with this claim
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what did Swinburne believe?
there are propositions which no one knows how to verify but they still aren't meaningless
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why might the verification principle contradict itself?
•Verification principle might contradict itself. The claim a statement is only meaningful if it can be verified analytically or synthetically cannot itself be verified analytically or synthetically.
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what is Hicks parable of the celestial city?
Two people are on a journey and comes across a single road which one believes is the road that leads to the celestial city but the other doesn't. They come across hard times and good times on the journey,one sees trip as pilgramidge other as pointles
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what did Hick's parable of the celestial city show?
They are both faced with the same facts but have different views with no way of verifying each others claims-but at the end of the journey verification can be found, religious statements can be verified after death
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when does a statement have meaning?
•A statement has meaning if a person making the claims accepts there may be evidence to count against it, •RL is meaningless as it does not allow evidence to count against it
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when is a statement factual?
•A statement is factual if it cannot be falsified using sense experience, •“Red is a colour” is factual as it is an analytic and inductive statement
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what does Karl Popper believe?
•scientific method is based on falsification not verification, if a scientist can show how his hypothesis might be false then his statement is synthetic and meaningful
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what does Brian davies believe?
”Religious believers make claims. They say for instance,that there is a God who loves human beings, But apparently they are unwilling to allow anything to count against these claims. The claims seem unfalsifiable. Are they then genuine claims”
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what does flew argue?
Christians will say “God is good” regardless of the evidence that counts against it. He lets children die of cancer and he cannot “love us as a father” as whilst the earthly father does everything to try and save the child God does nothing
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what is Flews famous quote?
Religious statements “die the death of a thousand qualifications”
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how does the parable of the garderner begin?
“Two explorers came across a clearing in the jungle. In the clearing there were many flowers and weeds growing. One explorer said that someone must tend to the plot the other disagreed saying there is no gardener.”
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what do the garderners disagree over?
•explorers who believes says the gardener is invisible, intangible, has no scent and makes no sound. But the other explorer asks “Just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternal illusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener
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how does Flew use the parable of the garderner?
-He uses this parable to create a distinction between assertions based on faith and assertions made on scientific evidence- and how both suffer the problems of unfalsifiable beliefs.
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what is a blik?
RL influences the way in which we see the world rather than proving a statement to be true or false. A blik is a non rational belief that cannot be falsified as it is just your particular view of the world that is not based upon reason or facts.
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what is the parable of the lunatic?
•a student has in there mind that university dons wanted to kill him, no matter what his friend did to try and show they wasn't there to kill him, nothing could falsify their belief
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how does hick criticise hare?
bliks are based upon reason, if we cannot prove or disprove bliks we cannot say if they are right or wrong, there are reasons behind religious beliefs, and is everything relativist?
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what is Mitchells parable of the partisan?
a member of the resistance movement meets a man claiming to be the leader of it and pledges his loyalty to him. He still believes the man is the leader even though he sees him helping out the enemy because he thinks he is doing it for the right reaso
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what is Swinburnes toy example?
If you can grasp the meaning behind the assertion they contain meaning whether they can be falsified or not. A claim that toys come alive and come out of the cupboard when no one is watching cannot be falsified or verified but we can still understand
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what did Wittgenstein believe about language?
The literal approach to language is too limiting, language should be defined by the function it performs-”Dont ask me for the meaning,ask for the use”
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how does language work?
Language works through a series of language games and meaning only comes out of context that comes from participating in the game
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what is RL?
RL is a language game where the rules that apply may be unclear or unintelligible to outsiders who do not know the rules of the game -a non believer may understand some of the rules of RL as there are some similarities in language games
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how do we assess the mening of language games?
we look at the activity it refers to
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what did DZ Phillips believe?
:applied Wittgenstein's theory to Religion and stated religion cannot be grounded or criticised in reason as it is a system all on it’s own, the reality of God does not lie in the issue of God's existence but instead located in religion
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Card 2

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LP believe language is only meningful if it is analytically and synthetically verifiable. what is analytic and synthetic?

Back

Analytic=a priori and inductive (true by definition) eg. A bachelor is male, Synthetic=a posteriori and deductive (true by sense information), meaning behind an assertion can be tested eg, if i say it is raining i can go outside and check

Card 3

Front

why do LP disagree with religious language?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

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What did Ayer believe?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

do religious claims really tell us anything?

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