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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Via Affirmativa
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(Via Positiva) states what God is
For example God is Good. |
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Via Negativa
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(Apophatic way) states what God is not
For example God is immortale |
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Philo of Alexandria
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Said God could only be spoken of in a negative way as we do not know what he is like we must sate what he is not.
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Pseudo-Maimonides
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The via negativa indirectly states what God is by ruling out what he is not.
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Moses Maimonides
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Example of a ship
If we did not know what a ship was we could say what is is not (It is not sphere, it is not round) until eventually we are left with a ship. Those who speak of God as via positiva unconsciously loose their belief. |
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Brian Davies
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Sating what God is not gets you no closer to what he is because there is no point of reference of God. The ship example could easily be a wardrobe because we do not know of everything in order to rule it out.
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Logical Positivism
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The world should be based on modern science, all knowledge is ultimately based on sense-experience.
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The Vienna circle
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Group of philosophers in the 1920's who developed logical positivism and formulated the verification principle. If a statement cannot be empirically verified it is meaningless.
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The Strict Verification Principle
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Formulated by the Vienna circle
-Must be verifiable my observation and experience -Disables religious arguments -religious experience is invalid -synthetic |
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The Weak Verification Principle
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Formulated by A J Ayer
-verifiable in principle if not in practice -probable by observation and experience -allows religious argument through design proof analytic |
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The Falsification Principle
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Karl Popper
verification is meant o be scientific since this principle cannot be falsified or disproved it is meaningless . |
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Parable of the invisible Gardner
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Anthony Flew
Two men came across a garden, one man stated there mus be a Gardner, the other convinced it was nature. They took night shifts to find the Gardner when he couldn't be found they claimed he is invisible. |
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R.M.Hare - Criticism
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Religious statements are not meant to be factual and so are not meaningless.
Blik - way of looking at the world which is not falsifiable but still meaningful. |
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Analogy of the lunatic
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R.M.Hare
A lunatic is convinced all his teachers want to kill him, he is introduced to the kindest teachers and still insists they want to kill him. No matter what his reaction is always the same. |
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Basil Mitchell - Criticism
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Evidence to falsify Gods existence (evil) but religious believers have a bias preventing them dropping their beliefs.
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Analogy of the freedom fighter
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A stranger meets a freedom fighter who is on hid side, asks him to trust him although he may do things against their joint cause. The stranger sees him doing odd things but still trusts him.
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Symbol
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Something that represents something else and evokes a new insight. Helps us understand God through something we can relate to.
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Paul Tillich
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Symbols evoke emotions and creates internal reality.
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Ian Ramsey
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Models and Qualifiers
A model gives us an example of what God is (Good) A qualifier gives us an example of how the model applies o God ( infinitely Good) |
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Paul Edwards
J R Randall |
- Symbols are not factual so are meaningless
-symbols stir up emotions |
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John Macquarrie
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Symbols ell us nothing of Gods nature.
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Wittgenstein
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Language Games
All language is specific to its are and that determines how meaningful it is. |
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Analogy
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Aquinas
comparison that attempts to show how two or more things are similar. |
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Univocal words
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Words that are the same and have one meaning
(cat) |
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Equivocal Words
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Words that are the same but have two meanings
(wing) |
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Analogous words
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Words which lie between univocal and equivocal, a partial similarity to what God is like .
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Analogy of Attribution
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All good in us from Gods primary attributes we are made in Gods image.
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Analogy of proportion
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Differentiation of terms applying to God or us, For example (Faithful) We are faithful to a marriage partner but God is faithful on a proportionately higher level.
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Swinburne - Criticism
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-We cannot understand the goodness of God even with analogy
-what is the primary meaning of goodness -how is God proportionately greater than us? |
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Myth
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A symbolic story that tries to explain an issue. It teaches and helps people who are uneducated .
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