Theological noncognitivism
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Theological noncognitivism is the argument that religious language, and specifically words like "God" (capitalized), are not cognitively meaningful. Some thinkers propose it as a way to prove the nonexistence of anything named "God".
Theological noncognitivism can be argued in different ways, depending on one's theory of meaning. Michael Martin, writing in Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (1990) about Kai Nielsen's use of the verifiability theory of meaning, concludes that religious language is meaningless because it is not verifiable. Martin's position is that noncognitivism only proves weak atheism, however. [1]
George H. Smith, in Atheism: The Case Against God (1975), uses an attribute-based approach to prove that there is no concept for the term "God" as there are no meaningful attributes, only negatively defined or relational attributes, making it meaningless. Smith's position is that noncognitivism leads us to the conclusion that "nothing named 'God' exists", proving strong atheism.
External links
- The Argument from Non-Cognitivism, by James Lazarus, is a discussion of Smith-style noncognitivism.
- Theological Noncognitivism Examined, by Steven J. Conifer, is an examination of theological noncognitivism from a skeptical perspective.