When two people, one Christian and one non-Christian, reference God are they referring to the same God? If a Muslim says “Allah be praised” and a Christian says, “praise God!” are they referring to the same God? If one thinks it is the same God, it appears that one would have to lower the differentiation between the two religions. If one says that the references are completely separate, then is it at all possible for an unbeliever to refer to the Christian’s God at all? In his speech to the Athenians, Paul refers to the Athenian temple to an unknown god. And what the Athenians deem to be unknown, Paul proposes to declare (or make known) to them. In this case…
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Language
What is the purpose of language? Where did it come from? For much of Western history we have vacillated between the theory that meaning is in the object and the theory that meaning is in the mind. Perhaps it was Wittgenstein who turned all this on its head. After making the argument for the former, Wittgenstein changed his mind and thought that the problem would be solved by resisting the temptation to define language ostensibly. Instead, language, and, more basically, meaning, is functional. Language is used in what Wittgenstein called, “language games,” a complete activity, a way of doing things not merely naming things. Language has since been top of the philosophical to-do list.…