Flashcards
Religious Language
Cards in this deck (62)
- 1What does cognitive mean?Conveys factual information
- 2What does non-cognitive mean?Language of which it is inappropriate to ask whether or not it is factual. Such language may make moral claims or it may convey emotions
- 3What does analytic mean?True by definition
- 4What does synthetic mean?These are propositions that are dependent upon evidence
- 5Who developed the verification principle?Ayer
- 6What are the two types of Verifictation?Verification in principle
Verification in practice - 7What is Verification in principle?Happens when we know how a statement can in principle be tested empirically
- 8What is Verification in practice?Happens when there is a direct sense experience to support a statement
- 9In the verification principle, when is a statement meaningful?It is analytic (true by definition) or empirically verifiable
- 10What are the strengths of the verification principle?Straight forward in what it demands
In line with science
Demands a sense of reality in what we say about the world - 11What are the weaknesses of the verification principle?The demands are too narrow
The principle being in line with science has a number of problems. For example, much of science deals with entities that cannot be directly observed such as quarks and science works more with falsification rather than verification - 12Who came up with the falsification principle?Popper
- 13Who developed the falsification principle?Flew
- 14What is the falsification principle?A sentence is factually significant only if there is some form of evidence that could falsify it
- 15What parable was used to show that theological statements were not scientific?The parable of the Gardener
- 16What are the strengths of the Falsification principle?Where religion makes important factual claims, Flew seems to show that these claims are empty, because all the evidence against such claims is ignored by the believer
- 17What are the weaknesses of the Falsification argument?Many aspects of experience are not in the same category as science and has deep significance for humans. Flew's category is too rigid
It is not true that religious believers allow nothing to falsify their claims as the problem of evil makes many question or even lose their faith - 18What is eschatological verification?The facts of Christianity will be verified or falsified at death
- 19Who came up with eschatological verification?Hick
- 20What two things does Hick claim about religious language?Its claims are cognitive
They are therefore subject to verification - 21What Parable goes with the eschatological verification principle?The parable of the Celestial City
- 22What are the strengths of eschatological verification?Hick claims Heaven is a real possibility
Gives good support to the view that religious claims are cognitive
Whenever we describe an experience, we are at the same time interpreting it - 23What are the weaknesses of the verification principle?Hick claiming that heaven is a possibility does mean make it true
Religious claims can be verified but never falsified - 24What are the counter responses for the eschatological verification principle?There is evidence for life after death (eg. near death experiences and memories of reincarnation)
Mathematics can never be falsified so why can't religious claims be the same - 25Who came up with Bliks?Hare
- 26What is a Blick?Refers to a framework of interpretation
A view of the world that is not an assertion but is non-cognitive and non-falsifiable - 27What Parable is used to pair up with Bliks?Parable of the lunatic
- 28What did Hare believe about religious language?It was non-cognitive
- 29What does the parable of the lunatic show?That all religious beliefs and statements are bliks
They are also deeply held, life changing and therefore crucial - 30What are the strengths of religious language as bliks?It explains why there are different factual claims in different religions
They also explain why people are not convinced by evidence that seems to challenge their views
It supports the view that religion gives a view that is used to interpret the whole of life in a range of different ways - 31What are the weaknesses of religious language as bliks?It makes religion very subjective as it all depends on how you see something
Most theists regard their religious statements as cognitive
If there are no factual truths about christianity, its value reduces to its psychological and sociological benefits - 32Who came up with the language game?Wittgenstein
- 33What did Wittgenstein say about the verification and falsification principles?He rejected them both
- 34What is the language game?Language has a meaning within a particular social context, each contect being governed by rules in the same way that different games are governed by different rules
- 35What did Wittgenstein say about the language game?Words do not indicate an object but perform a function
Language games are connected to a form of behaviour
Language is something that is learned from others
The word 'God' is not an object
Religious language cannot be claimed to be true or false - 36What are the strengths of religious language as a language game?It allows a range of meaning for language rather than trying to put in one 'box'
It allows for religious statements to be 'belief in' - 37What are the weaknesses of religious language as a language game?It is virtually impossible to enter into debate with those coming from other language game
Allowing religious statements to be 'belief in' is important, but most religious believers think that religious claims are also cognitive - 38How does language game see religious language?Non-Cognitive
- 39What are the three responses to to verification and falsification?Bliks - Hare
Eschatological verification - Hick
Language game - Wittgenstein - 40What are the three other views of the nature of religious language?Religious language as analogical - Aquinas
Via negativa - Pseudo - Dionysius,
Maimonides
Symbolic - Tillich - 41Who developed Negativa?Pseudo-Dionysius
- 42Who supported Via Negativa?Maimonides
- 43What does Kataphatic language mean?The use of positive terms about God
- 44What does Apophatic language mean?The negative language used by the Via Negativa approach
- 45What did Pseudo-Dionysius say about Via Negativa?He developed Via Negativa to emphasise God as completely beyond human understanding and to ensure that no language was used that could limit him
It cannot be said that God is good because humans do not know what this means
God is beyond assertion and beyond denial
God is nameless yet at the same time has the names of everything that is - 46What did Maimonides say about Via Negativa?Humans can know that God exists but that is all
Positive language about God was limiting and can reduce him
He therefore accumulated all the negatives could be used - 47Name a quote from Pseudo-Dionysius?'God is not soul or mind'
- 48What are the strengths of Via Negativa?It avoids making God a thing
It avoids anthropomorphising - 49What are the weaknesses of Via Negativa?Most people want to say positives about God
The end result of such language might not be the God of theism (Maimonides used negatives to describe a ship but could of also described a wardrobe) - 50Who came up with religious language as symbolic?Tillich
- 51What is religious language as symbolic and what did it say?Signs are forms of communication but symbols go much deeper
Symbols can die or change their meaning, and they may not be meaningful to everyone
Religious symbols can arouse emotions
Symbols both affirm and negate God - 52What are the strengths of religious language as symbols?Avoids danger of anthropomorphising
It permits the use of one literal sytatemt about what is meant by God without the need for metaphysical conceptions
Reflects what is known through religious experience - 53What are the weaknesses of religious language as symbols?The idea od symbols participating in reality is not clear
The abstract idea of God being itself is not held by most Christians
Many of the most important things that people want to say about God come from the rational thought and debates of philosophers - 54Who came up with religious language as analogical?Aquinas
- 55What does Aquinas say about language?He rejects as limiting the use of univocal language to refer to God
He rejects as meaningless the use of equivocal language to refer to God
He adopts the language of analogy - 56What are the two forms of the language of analogy?The analogy of attribution
The analogy of proportionality - 57What is the analogy of attribution?It is possible to say something about God
When God created humans, he created them with the capacity for goodness
The goodness is not identical to God's nature, but we can say that God is good - 58What is the analogy of proportionality?Qualities are proportionate to their nature
God is totally different from created things
eg. saying a ant is strong is different to the strength of a human - 59Who tried to develop religious language as analogical in a different way?Ramsey
- 60What did Ian Ramsey say about Religious language as analogical?Model, qualifiers and disclosures
Model - A term from our experience that can be applied to God (eg Good)
Qualifier - Results from the recognition of God's essential difference from us (eg Infinitely)
Disclosure situation is the use of the model and qualifiers together - 61What are the strengths of religious language as analogical?It avoids the issues caused by univocal and equivocal language
Its use of observable experience makes the language cognitive
Encourages the believer to push beyond the minited meaning of goodness - 62What are the weaknesses of religious language as analogical?What can be said about God is very limited since God is unknowable
The same approach could be use to argue for negative language (eg God is evil)
Many do not agree with this view that evil is negative
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- A level Religious Studies Flashcards on Religious Language, created by Jess Todd on 11/04/2022.
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- Jess Todd
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