9. Religious Language: Language Games
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 17-06-17 20:29
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- 9. Religious Language: Language Games
- Wittgenstein
- Based argument on logical positivists, rejection of verification principle as too limiting
- Philosophical Investigations
- "to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or a form of life"
- "do not ask me for the meaning, ask me for the use"
- Words have a specific function performed in a specific group/society
- A game with its own set of rules
- People not in the game will not understand the use of language
- Language is a self-contained game
- Focused on use of language
- Different uses have different rules
- Every form of language is a self-contained game with own rule specific to group
- Focused on use of language
- Language can't exist in isolation
- Individuals cannot create a private language as it is a social product to enable communication
- "cogito ergo sum" challenged as any thoughts are in public language with socially agreed rules, not a private language
- A private language cannot exist as an individual wouldn't know if they were using words correctly
- Religious language is a language game
- As the use of language is specific to groups, religious language is also a game
- Problems in philosophy occur through misunderstanding of the game
- Issue is not in the inherent meaning of the word
- Rules aplly to people 'in the game', so to outsiders it is meaningless
- This means religious language can be deemed as meaningless
- However, an outsider cannot claim it is meaningless just because they're not in the game
- Means it is difficult to discuss religion and religious concepts if different faiths have different religious languages
- D. Z. Phillips
- Religious language is a language game as religious language is not grounded or criticised in reason
- It's a system of its own
- Statements such as "God exists" are not grounded in belief
- Instead they are expressions of belief
- The reality of God is located in words used and the practices of religion
- You can only make statements if you are part of the circle
- Outsiders make irrelevant claims
- Religious language is a language game as religious language is not grounded or criticised in reason
- Criticisms
- Religious language isn't totally isolated, so non-believers can also understand it and decide if it has meaning
- Non-believers may be able to understand religious language better because they have an objective view
- Rendering importance of the game useless
- Suggests exclusive 'clubs' of language
- However, language is communal and cannot be used as a secret code by a group
- Religion makes universal claims, so it is not confined to a small community
- Language games do not allow for beleiver's claims to be objectively true
- Wittgenstein
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