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All 8 Flashcards — Is God-talk meaningless?
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Question
Verificationism?
Answer
The view that a statement is meaningful only if it's true by definition or checkable by experience (Ayer).
Question
Ayer's verification test — the two routes to meaning?
Answer
True by definition (all bachelors are unmarried) OR checkable by experience (it's raining). Anything else is meaningless.
Question
What does Ayer conclude about 'God exists'?
Answer
It's neither true by definition nor checkable, so it's not false but meaningless — it makes no real claim.
Question
Meaningless vs false?
Answer
False = a real claim that's wrong. Meaningless = not even a claim, so nothing to argue about. Ayer says God-talk is the second.
Question
Why did verificationism cut so deep for religion?
Answer
You can defend a claim, but it's far harder to defend a sentence declared not a claim at all.
Question
The self-undercut objection to verificationism?
Answer
Apply the rule to itself: it's neither true by definition nor checkable, so by its own test it's meaningless.
Question
Ayer's attack vs an atheist's?
Answer
The atheist says God-talk is a false claim; Ayer says it isn't a claim at all — meaningless, not false.
Question
One over-reach of the verification rule?
Answer
Taken strictly it also wipes out ethics, history and other minds — things we clearly find meaningful.
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Topic 5.2 hub
Religious language
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