Theological noncognitivism is the argument that religious language, and specifically words like "God" (capitalized), are not cognitively meaningful. Some thinkers propose it as a way to prove the nonexistence of anything named "God". It is sometimes considered to be synonymous with Ignosticism. Religious is a term with both a technical definition and folk use. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Ignosticism (often confused with apathetic agnosticism or apatheism) is the view that the question of the existence of God is meaningless because it has no verifiable (or testable) consequences and should therefore be ignored. ...

Theological noncognitivism can be argued in different ways, depending on one's theory of meaning. Michael Martin, writing in Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (1990) about Kai Nielsen's use of the verifiability theory of meaning, concludes that religious language is meaningless because it is not verifiable. Martin's position is that noncognitivism only proves weak atheism, however. [1] Michael Martin is a philosopher at Boston University as professor emeritus. ... This article is about the year. ... Kai Nielsen is adjunct professor of philosophy at Concordia University in Montreal and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Calgary. ... In the early twentieth century, the logical positivists put forth what came to be known as the verifiability theory of meaning. ... Weak atheism (also called negative atheism) is the lack of belief in the existence of deities, without a commitment to the necessary non-existence of deities. ...

In Atheism: The Case Against God (1975), George H. Smith uses an attribute-based approach in an attempt to prove that there is no concept for the term "God": he argues that there are no meaningful attributes, only negatively defined or relational attributes, making the term meaningless. Smith's position is that noncognitivism leads us to the conclusion that "nothing named 'God' exists", proving strong atheism. 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... George H. Smith is a libertarian author. ... Strong atheism, sometimes called positive atheism, hard atheism or gnostic atheism, is the philosophical position that no deity exists. ...

External links

• The Argument from Non-Cognitivism, by James Lazarus, is a discussion of Smith-style noncognitivism.
• Theological Noncognitivism Examined, by Steven J. Conifer, is an examination of theological noncognitivism from a skeptical perspective.
• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/God_for_the_Third_Millennium/The_Universe_and_God