The Falsification Principle Lesson 4 LO’s: 1: To understand the falsification principle 2: To consider its effect upon religious language HWK TASK 4 in your REligious Language HWK Booklet (pg.6). Starter : Discuss If the gardener was invisible, intangible (and liked weeds), would we be able to tell the difference between the work of this gardener and there being no gardener at all? Keyword Falsification: The philosophical theory that a statement is meaningless if there is no way that it can be disproved. Blik: Hare’s term for a basic belief that is not altered despite empirical evidence.

Stu and Lou’s Garden Task 1: TV Script Discuss: How do we persuade Stu there is no gardener? How does this dialogue link to religious language? Lou: That gardener you hired hasn’t shown up Stu. Stu: He starter work three days ago, my friend. Lou: I haven’t seen him, I don’t believe you. Stu: You won’t see him, he’s invisible. Lou: I knew you would say that. That’s why I had a trip wire installed. If he existed , he would have set it off by now. Stu: You misunderstand the nature of the gardener, he is also intangible. We cannot detect him via our senses. Look how well the flowers are doing. Lou: Maybe, but wouldn’t they have grown anyway? In any case, the weeds are still there are there is no sign of the gardener. Stu: As I said, there is a gardener who is invisible, intangible and not detectable by human senses. He comes to the garden secretly and works here. Lou: well I’m guessing he likes weeds too. A priori: Ontological argument A posteriori: Design and Cosmological Arguments Task 1: TV Script Script a TV chat show, along the lines of the dialogue on this page, between an atheist presenter and her guest, a believer.

The Falsification Principle and Religious Language The falsification principle has it origins in Karl Popper’s philosophy of science. What is he saying here? Anthony Flew applies this principle to religious language: Flew believed that a statement is meaningful if it is known what empirical evidence could count against it. e.g. ‘All swans are white’ this can be falsified if we were to see a black swan. Religious believers do not give the condition which will count against their claim. Christians say ‘God is Good’ no matter what disaster strikes. ‘It is a test’ or ‘ He moves in mysterious ways’ are constant qualifications rendering religious statements worthless because they die the “death by a thousand qualifications”.

Group Task 2: Religious Language Stories Each group is allocated a different philosophers analogy. They must: Summarise it Explain its meaning. Produce a handout to be photocopied for the rest of the class. John Wisdoms Parable of the Gardener (used by Antony Flew) Falsification principle Responses R.M. Hare – The Lunatic Richard Swinburne – Toys in the cupboard Mitchell’s - Stranger Use pgs. 375-383 and your handouts to find the stories and gather information.

Tell me what you are confident with... Consolidation: On a scale one 1-5 how do you feel about this topic? On a Post-It note: Ask me a question... Tell me what you are confident with...