Language deals with factual statements
that can be proved to be either true or
false. These can be either empirically
provable, such as 'The Queen is the Head
of State', or statement that, as far as
believers are concerned, contain
meaningful factual content, such as 'God
exists' or 'God loves me'.
Logical Positivism
Criteria of meaning
Used Hume's idea of empiricism
& applied it to language
Experience could be categorised
as a criterion of meaning
Experience is key
For anything to have meaning it has to be verifiable
see
hear
touch
smell
taste
It has to have the ability to be
verified to be true or false
A sentence must be considered
meaningless if it cannot be verified
Rejected metaphysics -
it is fruitless
Meaningless to talk of God
Not possible to empiricaly test concepts of God
Only those propositions that can be
verifies empirically have meaning
Shclick
'The meaning of a proposition is the method of verification;
a posteriori reasoning
synthetic propsitions
Miracles are meaningless
The intervention of God is only the supposed effect
David Hume
All ideas are based on experience
Experience = True Knowledge
Matters of Fact
Logic & Mathematics not
based on experience
'relation of ideas'
Empiricism
A.J.Ayer
Tried to reinterpret the verification principle
Outlined distinction between verifiablity
In Pricniple
Therefore is meaningful
Scientific laws may be
verifiable in principle
In Practice
Scientific laws can't be
verified in practice
Other type of distincition
Strong Verification
To directly observe something
Weak Verification
Some form of sense
experience that
counts toward it
it is possible for experience to render it probable
Accepted a priori truths
Criticisms
The verifiction
principle itself is
maningless
Hick
Eschatological verification
We can verify God's exsitence when we die
Practical prolems
Blackholes
Mental Illnesses
Historical statements
Design Argument is weak
verification for the existence of God
Evil & Suffering
Laws such as 'do not kill'
can be considered
menaingless
Affects religous and secular laws
Kieth Ward
'If I were God I would be able to check out the truch of my
own existnec'
Verifiable through principle
Strengths
Anything meaningful is learnt &
developed through our
experiences i.e. compassion
A.J.Ayer's development makes the
principle more acceptable
Yet his development does not help talk of God
Makes us think about the meaning of
langauge more carefully
You cannot make non-cognitive
statements into cognitive ones