Teleological Argument

What is the teleological argument?

• inductive, a posteriori argument

• based on perceived order, purpose and regularity in universe

• apparent design can’t be attributed to chance - instead points to an intelligent designer (God)

Paley’s Design Argument

• objects in natural world have similarities with man-made machines

• man-made machines result of intelligent design

• comparable effects will have comparable clauses

• therefore objects in natural world were created by an intelligent designer

What is Aquinas’ fifth way?

• nature follows laws, acts towards a purpose

• non-rational objects lack intelligence yet act in an orderly way

• these actions (almost) always achieve the best result

• must be guided by an intelligent being (arrow analogy)

• goal-directed behaviour requires intelligence

• guiding intelligence must be God, who governs all things

Fifth way - strengths

• simple and intuitive

• compatible with science - newtonian physics

• avoids weak analogies - uses observation-based arguments

How does Paley use the watch analogy to argue for the existence of God?

• difference between stone/watch = order and purpose

• claims a world is more similar to the watch

• nature is full of complex things that have been ordered on purpose (e.g. feathers of a bird)

• inferring a watchmaker from a watch means inferring a cosmic designer from the universe

What was Kant’s response to Paley’s teleological argument?

• P’s argument relies on empirical evidence

• empiricism doesn’t guarantee proof

• just because something looks designed doesn’t mean it is

• lacks logical necessity

What was Hambourger’s response to Paley’s teleological argument?

• complexity does not equal design

• random chance could still produce complexity, especially in an infinitely large universe

• aligns with modern chaos theory, evolution - order can emerge naturally

What is meant by the idea that ‘The Teleological Argument doesn’t prove the existence of a Christian God’?

• doesn’t prove the God of classical theism

• a lesser deity/multiple deities

• a deistic God who created the world, doesn’t intervene

• alien intelligence

How did Hume respond to Paley’s Teleological Argument?

• Hume was an empiricist/sceptic/agnostic

• any statement which doesn’t refer to an act that can’t be verified is meaningless - theology is meaningless

• watches/universe too dissimilar to be meaningfully compared

• disorder/suffering suggests imperfect design

• order can arise naturally/through chance

How does Charles Darwin respond to the Design Argument?

• evolution by natural selection

• explains apparent/complex design in nature without requiring a designer

• adaptations arise gradually through variation

How does Richard Dawkins respond to the Design Argument?

• Blind Watchmaker - natural selection mimics design without needing a designer

• Mount Improbable - biological complexity arises through gradual evolutionary processes rather than intentional design

How does John Stuart Mill respond to the Design Argument?

• highlights existence of diseases, natural disasters etc

• if an intelligent designer were responsible for creating the world, then suffering must suggest a lack of omnibenevolence

• concludes world cannot be ordered

• rejects idea of intelligent design

What were the beliefs held by F.R. Tennant in regards to the Design Argument?

Anthropic Principle - universe appears to be ‘fine-tuned’ for human life

• precise conditions necessary for life suggests a guiding intelligence

Aesthetic Argument - presence of beauty, art, culture point to a divine creator

• not necessary for survival yet they exist, implying an intentional design by God

How does Richard Swinburne respond to the Design Argument?

• order/size of universe makes it highly unlikely that it could ‘just happen’

• high degree of personal, conscious choice of God

Occam’s razor - one God is the simplest explanation

• uniformity in laws of physics suggests a single designer