RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE

ESSENTIAL IDEAS Via Negative Speaking about God in terms of what he is not Univocal Speaking about God using everyday language to mean the same things Equivocal Speaking about God in everyday language but knowing that it has a slightly different meaning Analogy Comparing God to something else but understanding that God is different/better than what we are comparing Him to Symbol Something that identifies a concept and also participates in the meaning of that concept. Myth A story that expresses a truth when no one is sure what exactly happened Ayer Language is only meaningful if it can be proved true or false Strong verification – something that can actually be proven Weak verification – something that can be proven in theory (we may lack the means to be able to do it, but we understand what we would have to do, the temperature of Pluto) Strength of Ayer Makes language factually significant – if we are using language to prove the existence of God then this makes sense Weakness of Ayer Conceptually restrictive – makes most of our everyday language (feelings, emotions, opinions etc) meaningless Flew Language is only meaningful if it can be proved false Accuses religious believers of failing to take on board evidence to disprove their beliefs – they alter/qualify them instead – PARABLE OF THE GARDENER Strength of Flew Weaknesses of Flew Hare – ignores the impact that beliefs have on a person’s life - PARABLE OF THE PARANOID STUDENT Mitchell – ignores that many believers do actually question their beliefs – PARABLE OF THE PARTISAN Wittgenstein All language has meaning within a certain context – LANGUAGE GAME It is a mistake to assume that scientific language and religious language should work in the same way as the two disciplines are completely different Strength of Wittgenstein More reflective of the human experience – we can still talk about feelings, emotions etc Weakness of Wittgenstein Just because people can talk meaningfully about something (eg witches and wizards) it does not mean that these things exist

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – THE VIA NEGATIVE What is does it mean to speak about God in the ‘Via Negative’? Give a strength of speaking about God in the via negative Give 3 weaknesses of speaking about God in the via negative

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – UNIVOCAL What does it mean to speak about God univocally? Give a strength of speaking about God univocally Give a weakness of speaking about God univocally

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – EQUIVOCAL What does it mean to speak about God equivocally? Give a strength of speaking about God equivocally Give a weakness of speaking about God equivocally

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – ANALOGY How did Burrell describe analogies? What did Aquinas mean by the ‘gradation to be found in things’? What did Hick mean by ‘downwards analogy?

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – SYMBOLS What are symbols and how are they used? How is a symbol different to a sign? Explain how the cross expresses a Christian belief. What does non-cognitive mean in relation to language? Why should symbols not be interpreted literally?

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – MYTHS Give 3 weaknesses of using language symbolically. What is a myth? Give 2 weaknesses of myths Give 2 defences of myths

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – AYER AND VERIFICATION What did the Vienna Circle believe about philosophical language? What did Ayer say that language had to be for it to be meaningful (2 points) Explain the difference between strong and weak verification What are the consequences of applying Ayer’s views to religious language?

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – AYER AND VERIFICATION How did Sutherland criticise Ayer? How can Hick’s ideas on eschatological verification be used to criticise Ayer? Why do some people believe it is reasonable for religious language to be factual? Why might it be problematic to use Hick’s ideas on eschatological verification to criticise Ayer?

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – FLEW AND FALSIFICATION What did Flew say about language being meaningful? What did Flew say many religious believers do when they are presented with evidence for why their beliefs might be wrong? (name the Parable he uses as well) What did Flew say about beliefs that people will not give up, no matter what evidence they are presented with to the contrary? Why did Flew think that evil and suffering proved the idea of God being a loving father false?

ESSENTIAL IDEAS – FLEW AND FALSIFICATION Give 2 weaknesses of Flew’s ideas How did Hare criticise Flew and which parable did he use? Explain Hare’s idea of bliks How did Mitchell criticise Flew and what parable did he use? Why do some people believe it is reasonable for religious language to be factual?

ESSENTIAL IDEAS - WITTGENSTEIN What did Wittgenstein say about language? What is a language game? What did Wittgenstein say about the relationship between scientific and religious language? What does it mean to describe language as anti-realist? Give a strength of Wittgenstein’s ideas Give 2 weaknesses of Wittgenstein’s ideas