“Explain what it means to say religious language is: non cognitive and analogical”
Religious Language refers to statements or claims made about God. It is stated that religious language is non-cognitive and analogical, just as Aquinas asserted that ‘all human language about God is analogical’. Non-cognitive language is language that cannot be empirically verified. For example, “obey God to be sure of heaven.” Firstly the statement requires verification that there is a God and also that there is another place after death. None of this can be totally verified until after death. Religious statements are really moral statements, they express an attitude and so have an emotive meaning, they are designed to shape people's feelings and behaviour and are meaningful in having such results. An analogy may be defined as a proportional similarity between one or more things that acknowledges also dissimilar features. A famous example of analogy is Paley’s use of the watch, in arguing the fact of the watch having a designer means that there must have been a ‘Designer’ of the entire universe.
Non-cognitive statements are statements that can be interpreted in an abstract way, such as symbols, metaphors, and ethical commands. They are not factually true, but can be understood by an individual and the community to which they belong. The truth or fallacy of the statement depends on the context and beliefs held by the speaker or listener. It could be argued that cognitive language (factual assertions that can be proved true or false) can perform the function of religious language, such as in the statement, ‘Jesus of Nazareth lived and died about 2,000 years ago’. This is because it is clearly important to Christians to know that Jesus existed and that he died. However, religious language is largely non-cognitive. For example, if a Christian says that ‘Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ who came to earth, to die on the cross to save humankind from the sin of Adam’, then they are voicing a non-cognitive statement. This is due to the fact that, no matter what the
Non-cognitive statements are statements that can be interpreted in an abstract way, such as symbols, metaphors, and ethical commands. They are not factually true, but can be understood by an individual and the community to which they belong. The truth or fallacy of the statement depends on the context and beliefs held by the speaker or listener. It could be argued that cognitive language (factual assertions that can be proved true or false) can perform the function of religious language, such as in the statement, ‘Jesus of Nazareth lived and died about 2,000 years ago’. This is because it is clearly important to Christians to know that Jesus existed and that he died. However, religious language is largely non-cognitive. For example, if a Christian says that ‘Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ who came to earth, to die on the cross to save humankind from the sin of Adam’, then they are voicing a non-cognitive statement. This is due to the fact that, no matter what the