Document Type : Original Article

Author

• Reza Akbari

Professor of Imam Sadegh University

Abstract

Use theory of meaning is an important theory in the realm of philosophy of language. According to this theory meaning of an expression is nothing but its use in the language. Meaning is a social fact that appears in a language game. So there is no room for private language. In any forms of life there are unwritten rules that the contributors of that form of life follow them and give the words meaning. Thus one expression may find different meanings in different contexts in a way that these meanings don’t have any essential common core but shaping a meaning spectrum. Use theory of meaning has a huge influence on two subjects which are the argumentation about the religious beliefs and religious pluralism. Using this theory one should accept that God has different meaning for a theist and an atheist. A theist regards this word as a word denoting a unique real being but an atheist regards this word as a universal word which may have real extension or not. So an atheist find himself justified in believing the need of argument for the existence of God. The advocates of religious pluralism like John Hick and Mark Heim by applying use theory of meaning find themselves justified in accepting religious pluralism as a true theory.

Keywords

• Use theory of meaning
• religious epistemology
• Fideism
• Pluralism
• Wittgenstein
• John Hick
• Mark Heim