1. RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE
1. Basic Features of Language
(a) Cognitive language & Non-cognitive language
● Cognitive language
- Conveys factual information
● Non-cognitive language
- Language that does not depend on external fact.
- Cannot be observed.
- Conveys emotions (eg. express hopes and fears)
(b) Analytic & Synthetic statements
● Analytic statements
- Explains the meaning of its terms
- Does not depend on any evidence
- True in all cases and all the time.
- eg. Ice is the solid state of water.
● Synthetic statements
- Requires reference to external evidence
- eg. There is a cat on the floor. (You need to be able to see a cat on the floor in order
for the statement to be true.)
(c) Believing ‘in’ something
● If you believe something is true, it suggests that the statement corresponds to external
reality. This means:
- You are committed to this concept
- You interpret your experience in the light of that commitment
● Example:
If one ‘believes in’ God, he can recognize God’s existence but regard it as of little
importance.
However, if one believes ‘in’ God, the implication behind is far more than just facts, it
means you are committed to Him to such an extent that you are inspired by Him and so
on.
(d) Experiencing ‘as’ something
● John Hick, following Wittgenstein’s work, points out that all experience involves
interpretation:
- We do not just experience things, but experience them as something.
- All descriptions are interpretation.
- Eg. The Holocaust:
- Nazis’ view: it was a victory
- Jews’ view: it was a disastrous slaughter

2. 2. Verification and Falsification
● Key feature on the validity of Religious Language is whether or not religious claims can
be VERIFIED or FALSIFIED. - A statement which cannot be verified/ falsified is not able
to convey information.
(a) Logical Positivism:
- Wittgenstein: Meaningful Proposition- function of language was to PICTURE the world.
Therefore statements need to correspond to info on the world itself.
- Vienna Circle: theory (based off Wittgenstein): VERIFICATION PRINCIPLE.
- If I say something is the case, you can look and will see it IS the case. A statement
can only be true based on such evidence. – STRONG POINT
- Can’t always check the evidence for a statement. For something like that to be
meaningful: have to be able to say what kind of evidence it would have. – WEAK POINT
(b) Falsification:
- Anthony Flew: Story originally by John Wisdom- way people hold onto their beliefs
despite the opposition.
- Two explorers- one beautiful clearing- one believes there is a gardener who looks after
clearing- other does not. They wait for the gardener. No gardener comes. Then they
wait for an INVISIBLE gardener.
-No evidence for the gardener but one explorer still believes there is one. Second
explorer cannot see the difference between an invisible, immaterial and no gardener.
-Flew: the gardener dies a death of a thousand qualifications. Every time he is not
detected – the believer qualifies his ‘gardener’ until there is nothing left to qualify.
3. Via Negativa
● Via negativa:
- God is so great that there is nothing in the ordinary meaning of words that we can use
to describe Him in a positive way. Therefore, we can only say what He is ‘not’: what
qualities or limitations that He lacks, that may apply to other beings.
● Originated from Pseudo-Dionysius, from the fifth and sixth century, who was deeply
influenced by Plato (neo-Platonist)
● Advantages:
- Emphasizes the transcendence of God, separates Him from any limiting, literal
description.
● Disadvantages:
- There is little that we can say about God. Do people wish to worship a God who is
described entirely negatively?
● The limitations imposed by via negative on what can be said about God have
implications for religious ethics – if we can’t say anything good about God, can we claim
that He guides people and gives moral principles? E.g. if we can’t say God is loving or
just, can we use the idea of God to back up moral claims about right or wrong?

3. 4. Types of Language
(a) Analogy
● In order to talk about God, Aquinas set out two different forms of analogy:
- Analogy of Attribution: God is the creator, hence human qualities were derived from
divine qualities. We can extend human qualities “upwards” – if humans are “good”, God
(the source of goodness) is also good – just in a greater way.
- Analogy of Proportionality – a human being may be described as “powerful”, and so
might God – we assume meaning of “powerful” is proportional to who we are talking
about.
● (i) Models and qualifiers
- Analogical language: you say something positive but then you qualify it.
- “model” – a word that has a straightforward meaning when applied to ordinary things,
but also used to describe God – eg. “creator”
- “qualifier” – word that shows how model is supposed to describe God – eg. “perfect
creator” – “perfect” would be the qualifier to describe the model “creator” that is God.
(b) Symbols
- Use of ordinary language to describe God
- “symbol” = points beyond itself, but shares in the power of the thing it is symbolizing
- Paul Tillich: God could only be described using symbols, never literally
(c) Myth
- Stories formed out of symbols
- Common usage: myth = something that is factually untrue
- Religious and philosophical usage = much more positive. If the divine cannot be
described literally, then forming stories that gather together symbols that express God is
the most effective way to talk about God
- Eg. Different versions of creation myths