100% tevredenheidsgarantie Direct beschikbaar na betaling Zowel online als in PDF Je zit nergens aan vast
logo-home
A level Religious Studies Edexcel Essay: Extract 2: Flew and Hare- 10 and 20 marker $13.96   In winkelwagen

Essay

A level Religious Studies Edexcel Essay: Extract 2: Flew and Hare- 10 and 20 marker

 12 keer bekeken  0 keer verkocht
  • Vak
  • Instelling

Questions on extract 2 where Hare and Flew discuss the use of religious language 10/10 achieved 20/20 achieved

Voorbeeld 1 van de 4  pagina's

  • 21 april 2023
  • 4
  • 2021/2022
  • Essay
  • Onbekend
  • A+
avatar-seller
Extract 2

A fine brash hypothesis may be killed by inches, the death by a thousand qualifications... It
seems to people who are not religious as if there was no conceivable event the occurrence of
which would be admitted by religious people to be a reason for conceding ‘There wasn’t a
God after all.’ Someone tells us that God loves us as a father loves his children. But then we
see a child dying of inoperable cancer of the throat. His earthly father is driven frantic in his
efforts to help, but his heavenly Father reveals no signs of concern. Some qualification is
made – God’s love is ‘not merely human love’. But then we ask: Just what would have to
happen to entitle us to say ‘God does not exist’? A believer’s statement has been so eroded
that it is no longer an assertion at all.

(Source: Quote from ‘The Philosophy of Religion’, Flew, A, Editor: Mitchell B,
By permission of Oxford University Press)


a) Clarify the ideas illustrated in this passage about falsification in religious language.
You must refer to the passage in your response (10)

One idea illustrated in the passage is that religious believers qualify their views due to a lack
of evidence. Flew argues that religious statements which are overqualified by the believer,
can’t be disproved and therefore the argument does not amount to much. This is because
believers start with an assertion, however it is reduced step by step and ends up as a picture
preference, or in other words, an act of their imagination. This is shown by the Parable of the
Gardener at the beginning of the extract; the explorer begins by believing in a
flesh-and-blood gardener until the idea faces some difficulties, which then reduces it to an
invisible, untouchable and undetectable gardener. Flew is demonstrating here how religious
believers think they believe in God, when in actual fact they have reduced or redefined him
into something so vague, that he will never be proved or disproved. Since the idea has
become so vague, it is also meaningless as the idea has been ‘killed’ by those who believe in
him. Religious belief has therefore died “the death of a thousand qualifications”.

Furthermore, Flew argues that “a believer’s statement has been so eroded that it is no longer
an assertion at all”. This reiterates how religious believers have overqualified their
statements of God to the point where they have lost their meaning due to their vagueness.
What’s more, the believer is also criticised for hiding behind statements that can’t be proved
or disproved, such as God suffers so we can develop, as a get out of jail free card. Often they
make excuses in their mind and refuse to allow anything to qualify against God’s existence.
Flew, however, places a great deal of emphasis on the fact that statements can only ever be
meaningful if they can be falsified. He argues that if a statement isn’t denying anything, then
it isn’t really claiming anything either.

Flew provides an example of a “child dying of inoperable cancer of the throat” by making a
link to the problem of evil. He is trying to highlight again how religious believers hide behind
statements that can’t be proved or disproved and thus have ‘killed’ them in the process by
making them meaningless. Many religious believers would hide behind the idea that God
allows this suffering of children because “God’s love is ‘not merely human love’.” or because
his love is inscrutable. Flew questions how much it would take for the believer to ever doubt

Voordelen van het kopen van samenvattingen bij Stuvia op een rij:

Verzekerd van kwaliteit door reviews

Verzekerd van kwaliteit door reviews

Stuvia-klanten hebben meer dan 700.000 samenvattingen beoordeeld. Zo weet je zeker dat je de beste documenten koopt!

Snel en makkelijk kopen

Snel en makkelijk kopen

Je betaalt supersnel en eenmalig met iDeal, creditcard of Stuvia-tegoed voor de samenvatting. Zonder lidmaatschap.

Focus op de essentie

Focus op de essentie

Samenvattingen worden geschreven voor en door anderen. Daarom zijn de samenvattingen altijd betrouwbaar en actueel. Zo kom je snel tot de kern!

Veelgestelde vragen

Wat krijg ik als ik dit document koop?

Je krijgt een PDF, die direct beschikbaar is na je aankoop. Het gekochte document is altijd, overal en oneindig toegankelijk via je profiel.

Tevredenheidsgarantie: hoe werkt dat?

Onze tevredenheidsgarantie zorgt ervoor dat je altijd een studiedocument vindt dat goed bij je past. Je vult een formulier in en onze klantenservice regelt de rest.

Van wie koop ik deze samenvatting?

Stuvia is een marktplaats, je koop dit document dus niet van ons, maar van verkoper lucyalex20. Stuvia faciliteert de betaling aan de verkoper.

Zit ik meteen vast aan een abonnement?

Nee, je koopt alleen deze samenvatting voor $13.96. Je zit daarna nergens aan vast.

Is Stuvia te vertrouwen?

4,6 sterren op Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

Afgelopen 30 dagen zijn er 83662 samenvattingen verkocht

Opgericht in 2010, al 14 jaar dé plek om samenvattingen te kopen

Start met verkopen

Laatst bekeken door jou


$13.96
  • (0)
  Kopen