Responses to the Verification and Falsification Principle

• What does R.M Hare say?

  - we all have our own blik (worldview)

  - they are real to each individual

  - a blik cannot be verifiable or falsifiable
• What does the Parable of the Student say?

  The student believes that all dons are out to hurt him. Even when his friends present him with kind dons, he still believes it - saying they are deceiving him. This is his worldview. Others don't understand it but it is real to him. The same applies to religious beliefs
• What does Basil Mitchell say?


  - we all have trust in people

  - some people have trust in God

  - religion is based on trust. Religious beliefs are neither verifiable or falsifiable
• What does the Parable of the Stranger say?


  At the time of the French resistance, a Partisan trusts an individual in a uniform. Although his friends are skeptical, he continues to trust this person, insisting he is on their side. This links to religious language because just because there is an absence of conclusive evidence, that does not make it unreasonable. A believer can trust God.
• What does Hick say?

  Eschatological verification
• What is the Parable of the Celestial City?

  A theist and an atheist are walking down the same road. The theist believes that it leads to the celestial city, the atheist thinks it will lead nowhere. If they reach the destination, the theist is correct. If they do not, the atheist is correct. Similarly, if the afterlife exists, we will know when we die. If the afterlife does not exist, we will simply just die. We can verify our existence once we die
• Is Hick's eschatological verification cognitive or non-cognitive?

  Non cognitive
• Example Paragraph of Hare A01 1/2

  Hare’s idea of a blik (worldview) explains why people hold different beliefs. Hare expresses his theory through the Parable of the Student in which a student is convinced that all dons want to murder him despite his friends attempts to prove otherwise. Although his friends do not understand why he believes that, it is real to him.
• Example Paragraph of Hare A01 2/2


  The same applies to religion - a religious person’s blik is that God is the creator, he is immanent yet transcendent. Hare’s point is that religious statements are not assertions at all, and therefore are immune to verification and falsification.
• Example Paragraph of Mitchell A01 1/2

  Basil Mitchell’s parable of the stranger shows that religious statements are meaningful even if they are not verifiable or falsifiable. Basil Mitchell’s parable of the stranger shows that religious statements are meaningful even if they are not verifiable or falsifiable. Mitchell’s parable of the stranger describes a partisan who meets a stranger; everything points towards the stranger being a traitor but the partisan continues to trust him.
• Example Paragraph of Mitchell A01 2/2


  His friends question what he would do to admit that he was wrong and the stranger was not on their side, but the partisan refuses to answer. When applied to religion, this shows how a believer can trust in their relationship with God. There is no simple answer to falsifying your faith, there is no method of falsifying God.
• Example Paragraph of Hick A01 1/2


  Hick’s eschatological verification is expressed through the allegory of the quest to a celestial city. In this parable, a theist and an atheist are both walking down the same road. The theist believes it has a destination, the atheist disagrees. If the theist is correct, they will reach a destination but if the atheist is correct then they never will.
• Example Paragraph of Hick A01 2/2


  This attempts to explain how a theist expects some form of life after death. If the theist is correct, he will be proven in the afterlife. If he is not, he will simply just die. Therefore Hick’s claims about the afterlife are verifiable in principle because the truth becomes clear after death. Therefore religious language can be meaningful