Theological noncognitivism is the

non-theist Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in the existence of god or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject o ...

position that

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

language, particularly

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

terminology such as "

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

", is not intelligible or meaningful, and thus sentences like "God exists" are cognitively meaningless. It may be considered synonymous with

ignosticism Ignosticism or igtheism is the idea that the question of the existence of God is meaningless because the word "God" has no coherent and unambiguous definition. Terminology The term ''ignosticism'' was coined in 1964 by Sherwin Wine, a rabbi and ...

(also called igtheism), a term coined in 1964 by

Sherwin Wine Sherwin Theodore Wine (January 25, 1928 – July 21, 2007), Hebrew name שמעון בן צבי, Shimon ben Tzvi, was an American rabbi and a founding figure of Humanistic Judaism, a movement that emphasizes Jewish culture and history as sou ...

, a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

and a founding figure of

Humanistic Judaism Humanistic Judaism ( ''Yahadut Humanistit'') is a Jewish movement that offers a nontheistic alternative to contemporary branches of Judaism. It defines Judaism as the cultural and historical experience of the Jewish people rather than a religio ...

Arguments

Theological noncognitivists argue in different ways, depending on what one considers the " theory of meaning" to be. One argument holds to the claim that definitions of God are

irreducible In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Emergence ...

, self-instituting relational,

circular Circular may refer to: * The shape of a circle * ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega * Circular letter (disambiguation) ** Flyer (pamphlet), a form of advertisement * Circular reasoning, a type of logical fallacy * Circula ...

. For example, a sentence stating that "God is He who created everything, apart from Himself", is seen as circular rather than an

truth. Michael Martin writing from a

verificationist Verificationism, also known as the verification principle or the verifiability criterion of meaning, is the philosophical doctrine which maintains that only statements that are empirically verifiable (i.e. verifiable through the senses) are cognit ...

perspective concludes that religious language is meaningless because it is not verifiable.

George H. Smith George Hamilton Smith (February 10, 1949 – April 8, 2022) was an American author, editor, educator, and speaker, known for his writings on atheism and libertarianism. Biography Smith grew up mostly in Tucson, Arizona, and attended the Unive ...

uses an attribute-based approach in an attempt to prove that there is no

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

for God: he argues that there are no meaningful attributes, only negatively defined or relational attributes, making the term meaningless. An example: Consider the proposition of the existence of a " pink unicorn". When asserting the proposition, one can use attributes to at least describe the concept such that a cohesive idea is transferred in language. With no knowledge of "pink unicorn", it can be described minimally with the attributes "pink", "horse", and "horn". Only then can the proposition be accepted or rejected. The acceptance or rejection of the proposition is distinct from the concept.

Relationship to other non-theist perspectives

Steven J. Conifer contrasts theological noncognitivism with

positive atheism Negative atheism, also called weak atheism and soft atheism, is any type of atheism where a person does not believe in the existence of any deities but does not necessarily explicitly assert that there are none. Positive atheism, also called str ...

, which describes not only a lack of a belief in gods but furthermore denies that gods exist thereby giving credence to the existence of a concept of something for "God" to refer to, because it assumes that there is something understandable to ''not'' believe in.

Paul Kurtz Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) was an American scientific skeptic and Secular humanism, secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University at Buff ...

finds the view to be compatible with both

weak atheism Negative atheism, also called weak atheism and soft atheism, is any type of atheism where a person does not believe in the existence of any deities but does not necessarily explicitly assert that there are none. Positive atheism, also called s ...

and

agnosticism Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

. However, Theodore Drange distinguishes noncognitivism and agnosticism, describing the latter as accepting that theological language is meaningful but being noncommittal about its truth or falsity on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

References

Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Theological Noncognitivism Irreligion Noncognitivism Agnosticism Criticism of religion 20th-century neologisms

Arguments

Relationship to other non-theist perspectives

See also

References

Bibliography

External links