Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Language Games
- What is this?
- anti-realist
- Wittgenstein
- advocated a 'functional
theory' of meaning
- Language games
are not intended
to be true or false
- Statements are only for
those who are within that
form of life
- All language is a game, it is
not about making
universally true statments
- It is to communicate
to other players of
the same game
- Language is meaningful in the
context of its own language game
- A non-believer will find religious
language meaningless because he
or she is not in that game
- The primary purpose is not
to make factual statements
- The player of one
'game' cannot criticise
another game
- We can know what a word
means when it is in a context
- Learning language is like
learning a game
- You just accept the rules
that have been agreed by
everyone else
- Language makes statements
which are groundless
- Defintions are
'groundless beliefs'
- They shape the way we
understand the world
- Religious belief shapes the way the
world is seen in a similar way
- Gilbert Ryle
- 'category mistake'
- To enter another game
without learning other rules
and conventions
- Hence you cannot criticise
another game
- Each game has its own 'criteria
of coherance'
- Religious Language has the
ability change the meaning
of words
- So it is a game
- Langauge is context
dependent
- Religious Language is a
part of a way of living
- No point of outsiders reading
their own meaning of the relgion
- Non-Cognitive
- Statements that can be interpreted in a
anti-realist way, such as symbols,
metaphors and ethical commandments.
Statements understood by the community.
The truth or falsity depends on the context.
- Strengths
- Peter Donovan
- Language games are a useful way of
understanding how the language of
religion has a special meaning
- Misunderstanding and confusion are likely to
result if statements are taken away from their
context
- non-cognitive
- Provides boundaries for the correct use
of langauge
- Language games
defends language from
any criticisms
- Religious language is
meaningful
- Braithwaite
- Bliks
- Not trying to express knowledge
- it has practical value
- Religious Language is to
express ethical adherence
to a moral way of
behaving
- D.Z Phillips
- Because language games contain
their own rules they can't be
criticised
- Weaknesses
- Peter Donovan
- Denies any need for religon to
be making claims about the
real world
- Relion is more than a special
way of using Language
- Language Games suggests
instead of being religous it is
a matter of playing with words
- Religion is more than special way
of using langauge
- It is not isolated from
other huamn activities
- It makes claims about world & life
- Does not allow for believers'
claims to be empically tested
- Alieneates those
outside the game
- Rules can't be changes to let
outseiders in
- Interfaith dialogue
cannot take place
- Religious langauge is not
totally isolated
- There is 'common ground' between
real life ad religous language
- What is a religous believer bacame athiest
- Can they talk about the language
- Non-believers are able to
understand religous langauge
- Consistency does not mean truth
- Non-believers maight be able to
understand religious language, they have
an objective view of the use of religous
langauge
- Religious believers want their
language to be outward looking
rather than inclusive
- The idea of truth becomes subjective
- This can justify anything within a
language game i.e. Nazism, KKK. ISIS
- Futhermore this cannot be critcised
- Conceptual Relativism
- You do not know if a certain
view is actually true or false