Theological noncognitivism

Theological noncognitivism is the argument that religious language, and specifically words like "god", are not meaningful. Some thinkers propose it as a way to prove atheism.

Theological noncognitivism can be argued in different ways, depending on one's theory of meaning. Michael Martin (philosopher), 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 Smith, in Atheism : The Case Against God (1975), uses an attribute-based approach to prove that the concept "god" has no meaningful attributes, only negatively defined or relational attributes, making it meaningless. Smith's position is that noncognitivism leads us to the conclusion that "god does not exist", 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.