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RS: PHILOSOPHY - THEME 3, RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE (PART ONE) (FALSIFICATION…
RS: PHILOSOPHY - THEME 3, RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE (PART ONE) (FALSIFICATION PRINCIPLE)
CRITICISMS
SWINBURNE
TOYS IN THE CUPBOARD
when we sleep at night, toys could come to life and dance around in the cupboard. when we wake up, we still find them stationary. we don't know whether they're dancing or not, but we can't say it's untrue if it can't be falsified, in the same way as religious statements
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ANTHONY FLEW
PARABLE OF THE GARDENER
two people come across a clearing in a forest where they come across a garden. one believes it's being maintained by a gardener, while the other doesn't. the one who believes in a gardener tries to justify their point so far to turning the gardener into an 'invisible gardener'. religious believers will go so far to justify their beliefs they'll end up contradicting themselves.
STRENGTHS
logical positivists are good in their challenges in verifying/ falsifying religious language; it allows us to separate sense form nonsense
religious language can seem confusing and sometimes contradictory, so principles make sure religious claims have similar rules to other areas of life
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logical positivists base their ideas on posteriori evidence; this simply asks religious language to be consistent in its use of criteria to demonstrate meaning
some might say religious events defy logic; logical positivists require tests for something to be proven meaningful, so anything that fails them would be meaningless + illogical
some agree w/ FLEW when he said religious believers will never give up their claims; there is often little evidence to support them, and so FLEW might be right in observation