1.1 the design argument Flashcards
What is an inductive argument?
Process of reasoning from particular instances to general and probable conclusions.
Conclusion cannot be guarenteed
What does posteriori mean?
What comes after, e.g uses experiences that have already happened
What is deductive reasoning?
A process of reasoning from a general principal which is applied to a particular circumstance
What are key features of an inductive argument?
- Uses a posteriori knowledge, based on sense and experience
- An argument from a probable solution
What we speculate about what isnt known
Are inductive arguments effective?
FOR:
* helps us gain an understanding of the world around us
* allows for new theories to be tested and proved accurate or not
AGAINST:
* Only ever probable
* based on assumptions
* must be proved through testing
What is the definition of an A posteriori argument?
Reasoning based on experience
What are the key features of an A Posteriori argument?
Tested using evidence, which provides probable answers
What is an example of A Posteriori argument?
Barbados in the off season is very humid
I have experienced Barbados in the off season so i can make an A posteriori argument
What is an example of an argument not derived from experience?
There are 360 degrees in a circle
This is not an experience but a fact discovered through other means
Summarise the Design argument
- We experience a world that is designed with order within the universe e.g the seasons
- The universe appears to be designed by a supreme being e.g God
- Everything is so perfect that it cannot be chance and someone must have designed it e.g the earths position from the sun
What are the key features of the Design argument?
- It is an inductive argument
- A posteriori reasoning
- teleological: concerned with the meaning and purpose of the world
- Based on an analogy - comparing something we don’t know to something we do (the universe is compared to a watch)
Name some examples of design in the universe
- The fibonacci sequence
- a birds wing
- the human eye
what are the PROS of the Design argument?
- It uses evidence
What are the CONS of the design argument?
- it will only ever be probable
- the world doesn’t always seem ordered e.g natural disasters and poverty
- God didnt create us with a purpose, we evolved
What is William Paley famous for?
The watch analogy, arguing the exsistance of God as designer
What is an anology?
c comparison between two things with similar ideas, udes to explain the less farmiliar idea.
eg Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you’re gonna get