What is the relationship between religious and ethical language

1
What is the relationship between religious and
ethical language?

• Religious language
• An expression of reality a world view in which
  God is active.
• Examples?

• Ethical language
• Again an expression of a world view in which God
  is active and ethics has its source in God.
• Examples? Conscience as from God.

2
What is the relationship between religious and
ethical language? Meaningless?

• Religious Language
• A.J. Ayer and Logical Positivists
• A statement to have meaning it had to be verified
  either by analysing the content of the statement
  on the basis of empirical knowledge (ANALYTIC) or
  assessing it against empirical data (SYNTHETIC)
• All vixens are foxesAnalyticinternal logic.
• It rained on TuesdaySyntheticopen to external
  sense experience.
• L.P. applied verification criteria. Religious
  statements cannot be verified and therefore are
  meaningless. Not a matter of truth or not!
• Is sense based verification the only means of
  assessing truth?

• Ethical Language
• The same can be said of Ethical language.
• Ayer Moral statements are not propositions at
  all-they are not true or false. They do not
  describe anything, not even the feeling of the
  believer. They are exclamations.
• Ethical and religious Language are meaningless?
• Further study
• Strong/weak verification.
• Criticisms of logical positivism

3
What is the relationship between religious and
ethical language? Non cognitive convictions
with an effect?

• Religious Language
• R.M. Hare Non cognitive view.
• The Blick theory of R.L. Religious statements
  (blicks) are not cognitive assertions (what is
  out there), but are statements about convictions
  (what is inside a believer).
• Religious statements are not factually true.
  They are myths which have a transformative effect
  on the believer alone. They can influence the
  way people view the world.

• Ethical Language
• Non Cognitivism and ethics?
• Boo-hurrah. Ethical statements are not cognitive
  but are statements of feeling/belief. Emotivism!
  Ayer!
• Prescriptivism ethical statements are intended
  to prescribe feelings and attitudes to have an
  effect!

4
What is the relationship between religious and
ethical language?Symbolic Language expressing
advice?

• Braithwaite R.L is non cognitive A religious
  claim is essentially a moral statement, expressed
  in terms of Symbolic language.
• Hick
• R.L is non cognitive when it speaks of Ultimate
  Reality and relative to the individuals
  standpoint.
• R.L. is being used to effect a change in the
  believer rather than make absolute truth claims
  and statements of fact about religion and the
  universe.

• Braithwaite Moral Language is not dealing with
  the objective. It is a way of expressing advice
  in a particular situation. It is dealing in
  opinions and preferences. There is no objective
  standard by which action can be judged. It is
  subjective.
• Aspects reflected here of both Emotivism and
  Prescriptivism!

5
What is the relationship between religious and
ethical language? Games?

• Ethical Language
• Meta ethics the function and use of ethical
  words!
• All Language is part of an activity. The various
  language games make up the Form of Life.
• Ethical and religious language are games each
  with their own, albeit similar rules!

• Religious Language
• Wittgenstein
• Looks at the use/function of words rather than
  their actual meaning.
• Language games, Forms of life.
• R.L needs to be discussed from an insiders
  perspective. Language is given meaning and
  constructed by communities. To say God EXISTS
  is not open to verification but merely to express
  the belief of the religious community that
  believes it. R.L. is set in a specific context
  and this context should be taken into account
  when seeking to verify religious statements.
• 1. Every form of lang is a self contained Game
  with its own rules/customs/uses.
• 2. Lang is a community activity with rules of
  engagement.
• 3. R.L is a lang game and its rules apply within
  its systems-may be unintelligible to the
  outsider.

6
What is the relationship between religious and
ethical language? Intuition?

• G.E. Moore Principia Ethica
• God can only be known through intuition!

• Ethics cannot be defined. It can only be known
  through intuition.

Yellow-Beautiful-God-Good All require intuition!
Ethical and religious Language are intuitive
statements.
7
What is the relationship between religious and
ethical language?

• The debate about how language is used!
• Is religious/ethical language verifiable?
• Is religious/ethical language non
  cognitive-personal/community conviction?
• Does religious/ethical language have a source
  which we can refer to as GOD?

8
A General Christian Response?

• Rejects any response to religious/ethical
  language which denies the existence of God.
• Reject empiricism. Aspects of truth lie beyond
  that which is open to empirical/testable/scientifi
  c enquiry.
• Rejects any view which sees Religious/ethical
  language as no more than BELIEF, or PREFERENCE or
  merely RELATIVE.
• Accepts the reality of spiritual and
  ethical/conscience faculties in humankind and
  which derive from God. The reality of the
  DIVINE.
• Religious and ethical language points to ultimate
  truths and the source of these truths is GOD.