EMPIRICSIM

EMPIRICSIM

KEY WORDS
1. verification principle
2. metaphysical
3. sense-experience
4. illogical/meaningless
5. knowledge
KEY THINKERS
1. AJ Ayer - "verification principle"
2. Gavin Hyman - "according to theological discourse, God is precisely that which is non-empirical"
3. David Hume - "we must draw conclusion merely from the known phenomena"
the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. we cannot have knowledge beyond the bounds of sense experience
1. ATHEIST
  1. David Hume, as God is metaphysical, we could have no knowledge about God and there is no justifcation in the belief that God exists
  2. Ayer says that unless we can verify the statement then the statement is meaningless and therrefore illogical state
  3. science is based upon empiricism as they rely on evidence and proof
  4. God cannot be smelt, touched, tasted, seen or heard
  5. as he is not physical, events interpreted by believers as religious experience (perhaps where god revels himself) are not open to emporical proof as they are supernatural
2. THEIST
  1. Ayer's verification principle is meaningless as you cannot verify it
  2. cosmological and design arguments - the existence of earth and it's level of design are empirical evidence for a creator and designer
  3. certain kinds of religious experience contain empirical evidence, int he absense of a physical explanation, must point to a cause beyond the physical
  4. beyond the 5 senses we have a sense of intuitive knowledge and divine presence

Resource summary

	Created by awesomesauce9199 about 8 years ago