Array
(
    [fullTitle] => What is Apophaticism? Ways of Talking About an Ineffable God
    [abstract] => Apophaticism – the view that God is both indescribable and inconceivable – is one of the great medieval traditions of philosophical thought about God, but it is largely overlooked by analytic philosophers of religion. This paper attempts to rehabilitate apophaticism as a serious philosophical option. We provide a clear formulation of the position, examine what could appropriately be said and thought about God if apophaticism is true, and consider ways to address the charge that apophaticism is self-defeating. In so doing we draw on recent work in the philosophy of language, touching on issues such as the nature of negation, category mistakes, fictionalism, and reductionism.
    [authors] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [givenName] => Michael
                    [affiliation] => University of Manchester
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [givenName] => Gabriel
                    [affiliation] => University of Toronto
                )

        )

    [keywords] => Array
        (
        )

    [doi] => 10.24204/ejpr.v8i4.1716
    [datePublished] => 2016-12-22
    [pdf] => https://www.philosophy-of-religion.eu/menuscript/index.php/ejpr/article/view/1716/version/373/1439
)
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What is Apophaticism? Ways of Talking About an Ineffable God

Michael
University of Manchester

Gabriel
University of Toronto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.v8i4.1716

Abstract

Apophaticism – the view that God is both indescribable and inconceivable – is one of the great medieval traditions of philosophical thought about God, but it is largely overlooked by analytic philosophers of religion. This paper attempts to rehabilitate apophaticism as a serious philosophical option. We provide a clear formulation of the position, examine what could appropriately be said and thought about God if apophaticism is true, and consider ways to address the charge that apophaticism is self-defeating. In so doing we draw on recent work in the philosophy of language, touching on issues such as the nature of negation, category mistakes, fictionalism, and reductionism.

Keywords:

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