Unverifiability of Religious Claims free essay sample

Argues faith-based beliefs are unverifiable noncognitive but meaningful in subjective, functional moral terms. Introduction Over the last several decades, philosophers have grappled with religious claims focusing in particular on the questions of: (1) whether such claims can be proven true or false; and (2) even if they cannot be proven true or false, whether they are, nonetheless, reasonable? This paper examines these philosophical views. Verifiability and Reasonableness of Religious Claims Many contemporary philosophers agree that neither empirical investigation nor deductive reasoning can, with certainty, verify or disprove religious claims such as the claim that God exists (see: Ayer, 1956; Dewey, 1966). In other words, in so far as a religious claimsuch as God existsis intended to be making an empirical claim, most philosophers would not expect the truth..