The Problem with Verification
In the following essay I will attempt to attack John H. Hick's view of verification, and how it can be processed within steps. I will expand on how religion, and everything that is contained within it, can't be verified at all. Although Hick discussed the problems of verification in Chapter 8 "The Problems of Verification" in Philosophy of Religion, he lacked discussion on crucial elements, discussing the problem of verifying religion as a whole.
The problem of verification isn't just one problem but many. The problems of verifying something are needed in order to give that something credibility. To verify, is to make true, and in order to make true, you must question what is being verified and make sure it completely factual. Experiments, experiences, and interpretations are needed in the verifications process. Hick discusses the problem of verification, and applies a verifiable process in "The Idea of Eschatological Verification".
In order to focus my analysis, I shall center my essay upon a discussion of the following six-step argument, assumed here to be valid, but not necessarily sound, making the issue of soundness the key issue:
(1) Hick demonstrates the problem of verification in which he explains the idea of life after death, by a step by step process of how it can be verified. Hick explains that because of certain underlying principles of verification, "life after death" may in fact be true because it can't be disproved. However, I do not agree with Hick in that "life after death" can't be disproved, does not mean it's true. This leads my essay in which nothing in religion can be verified.
(2) The central core of verification is the removal of grounds for rational doubt. But I do not understand that. Does that mean: removing any grounds of rational doubt can instantly make something true? Rational doubt is rational thinking and doubting of a certain proposition. I can't seem to remove my doubts that there is not "life after death", but merely death, and when we die…we just die. Because of my continuous doubt of the subject, verification is not in fact taking place. But if someone were to think that in fact life did take place again after death, and there was no doubt of that, but absolute faith in the concept of it, verification is taking place.
Religion has been a controversial topic among philosophers and in this paper I am focusing
The use of a highly debated topic give good reason for someone to give the essay a read without prior knowledge of the underlining message within the essay. As a result of this, one can understand why this eassy was published in this magazine and has received limited
The organization of the argument of this paper is not particularly imaginative since this writer “lists” elements in a strictly sequential order, but he or she demonstrates familiarity with a wide range of documents and concepts of the Reader while working closely with the specific language of the document he or she is presenting.
The sources used by the author dictated the conversation that could be issued. The difference stances and opinions gave the author a broader viewpoint to discuss the issue on. With the aid of sources and references, many being used above, she gave the reader a different view point of the problem, debating the reader to determine whether it truly is something that cannot be controlled or is something that can easily be avoided based on freewill.
Crusius, Timothy W., and Carolyn E. Channell. The Aims of Argument: A Text and Reader. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print.
The above excerpt was provided so that the student would know the focus of the essay. The complete essay begins below.
White, Fred D., Simone J. Billings. The Well-Crafted Argument: A Guide and Reader. Boston: Houghton, 2002.
Shafer-Landau begins his article by arguing that three considerations lay the foundation for the d...
Hick, John. Disputed Questions in Theology and the Philosophy of Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Print.
The Verification Principle and the Falsification Principle The verification principle was devised by a group of philosophers who called themselves the logical positivists. They were influenced by many philosophers one was Wittgenstein and is ‘picture theory of language’ Wittgenstein’s theory was that a statement can only be meaningful if it can be pictured and/or defined in the real world. Thus only assertions of statements that were in principle, verifiable could convey factual information as they have the means to be tested.
The previous excerpt was provided so that the student could determine the focus of the essay. The complete essay begins below.
Finally, the argument must be reasonable and logical to the people who need convincing. The person who wins the argument isn’t always right, but they were able to convince an audience that they were by vouching for their character, appealing to human emotion, and by creating a reasonable and logical justification. In the essay,
that the meaning of the words prove this or they can be proved by some
When first looking at the relationship between philosophy and religion, I found it easier to explain the differences rather than the similarities. I began this paper the same way I do others. This generally involves a profound amount of research on the topic at hand. However, in contrast to the other papers I have done, the definitions of philosophy and religion only raised more questions for me. It was fascinating how the explanations differed dramatically from author to author.
The argument that is used in the idea of skepticism has comparable and incompatible views given from Augustine and Al-Ghazali. Both monologues cover and explain the doubts one should have, due to the