Flew's falsification principle

• Anthony flew developed his version of the falsification principle from the thinking of philosopher and scientist Karl popper.
• falsification principle

  a sentence is factually significant only if there is some form of evidence that could falsify it.
• statement that underlays flew's approach to religious language:

  'something can be counted a scientific only if it is possible that there could be evidence to falsify it'.
• flew set out to consider whether or not theological statements were scientific, i.e. genuine assertions.
• to support his view that they weren't scientific, he adopted and slanted in a negative way John wisdom's 'parable of the gardener':

  • each test carried out fails to give any empirical evidence of a gardener, but one of the two explorers insists there is one, coming up with a reason for evidence not having been forthcoming
  • the parable ends with the other explorer saying, 'just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternal elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no gardener at all?'
• flew claimed that in the same way, religious believers will go to any lengths to stop anything counting against their faith claims

  • these cannot be falsified as they are continually modified (weakened) to accommodate any challenge
  • in the end, religious statements undergo the 'death of a thousand qualifications'
  • religious statements are therefore empty.
• what parable did flew use to back up his point?

  the parable of the gardener
• who came up with the parable of the gardener?

  John wisdom.
• strength of the falisifcaion principle

  flew points to the approach of some believers to religious beliefs: they are blinkered and refuse to take seriously challenges to those beliefs, instead finding some excuse for god, such as when faced with a small child dying of an agonising disease.
• weakness

  many aspects of experience are not in the same category as scientific fact and have deep significance for humans: flew's category is too rigid.

  in any case, it is not true that religious believers allow nothing to falsify their claims. the problem of evil makes many question or even lose their faith.