Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Empedocles, A.J. Ayer and Arend Heyting

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29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / c. Religious Verification

5209	The 'truths' expressed by theists are not literally significant [Ayer]
	Full Idea: There cannot be any transcendent truths of religion, for the sentences which the theist uses to express such 'truths' are not literally significant.
	From: A.J. Ayer (Language,Truth and Logic [1936], Ch.6)
	A reaction: Ayer claims that only tautologies or empirically verifiable statements have literal significance. I say speculations, wild theories and fantasies are perfectly meaningful. Nevertheless, the words of many hymns and prayers look like empty rhetoric.