Religious Language

• Cognitive language makes factual assertions so can be proved true or false
• Non-cognitive language makes claims or observations that can be interpreted in some other way
• Many people interpret religious language literally, but it might have originally meant something else e.g. if someone 2000 years in the future found the Macdonald's logo it's very likely they would interpret it differently to what we know it is today
• Religious language is subjective
• Logical positivism - only that which can be verified empirically or logically has meaning
• The falsification principle - Explains why religious language is meaningless, because there is nothing to counter-act religious statements. Religious statements cannot be proven true or false because religious believers do not accept evidence against their beliefs. Religious statements cannot be falsified, so they are meaningless
• R.M Hare - 'Blik' - Religious statements do have meaning because of the effect that they have on believers. Although religious language cannot make factual claims, it still has meaning. The Parable of the paranoid student is an example of this
• Language games - language is like a toolbox, every tool has its own function and performs different roles. Different words function in different ways
• Wittgenstein uses the example of a train carriage driver to demonstrate language games. If we do not know the purpose of the levers in a train carriage, we cannot be the driver. In the same way, if we do not know the function of religious words, we cannot understand the meaning
• Language games - the use of language is governed by rules. Being part of a social group means you know what they mean
• The Via Negativa - Aquinas - It is easier to say what God is not rather than what God is. This way of speaking allows meaning to be understood about God through describing what cannot be said about God. It is still possible to talk about God by not saying what he is but instead saying what he is not
• Philo of Alexandria (25BC) - The nature of God was inaccessible to humans. The nature of God can only be talked about in negative terms
• Plotinus - (270 AD) - Via Negativa does not describe the experience of God but denies the use of language to describe what God is