1B Inductive - Teleological Flashcards
What does ‘design qua regularity’ mean?
• Order and regularity in the universe = evi. of a designer at work
What is the Fifth Way “taken from”?
• “the governance of the world”
Summarise Aquinas’ Fifth Way.
- Something that lacks intelligence cannot move towards fulfilling a useful end, unless something with intelligence has moved it
- “things which lack knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end…to obtain the best result…they achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly”
- Things follow the laws ∴ fulfil their telos; but cannot think for themselves ∴ they have been “directed by something else” - must be God
What analogy did Aquinas use for his Fifth Way?
- Arrow cannot reach target by itself, must be “directed by the archer”
- Relates this to the workings of the universe ∵ everything follows natural laws even if possess no intelligence
Where does one of the most ancient teleological arguments come from?
• Cicero’s ‘De Natura Deorum’ (45 BC)
Give a Bible passage that supports the teleological argument.
• Psalm 19: “the vault of heaven reveals his handiwork”
What does ‘design qua purpose’ mean?
• The parts of the universe appear to fit together for a purpose
When was ‘design qua purpose’ developed?
• 17th C. in response to the new mechanistic physics
• Newton discovered the universal laws of gravity and motion ∴ many scientists saw the universe as a ‘machine’ with all parts working together
∴ no longer necessary to believe that God caused the movements
In what book did Paley respond to the mechanical analogy?
• ‘Natural Theology’ (1802)
What is the first part of Paley’s argument?
- Design qua purpose
- If one were to discover a stone on a heath, may conclude that “it had lain there for ever”
- If one were to discover a watch on the ground, would conclude that, as it is so complex, it did not come into existence by chance
- An intelligent person would infer that it had a designer
- We would draw this conclusion even if: unaware of purpose; didn’t understand some of its parts; if it went wrong
- The universe = likewise complex ∴ too infers a designer
Give a quote from Paley to summarise the first part of his argument.
- “every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature”
- Nature = “greater and…exceeds all computation”
What four examples of detailed workings does Paley give to support the first part of his argument?
- Eye
- Bird’s wings
- Fish’s gills
- Lacteal system
What is the second part of Paley’s argument?
- Design qua regularity
- Rotation of planets + how they hold their orbits due to gravity = could not be chance ∴ an external agent must have imposed regularity/order
How does the 20th Century philosopher, Arthur Brown, support design qua purpose?
- Our planet = only one with ozone layer
- The purpose of the ozone layer = to filter out ultraviolet rays to protect life
- Could not have happened by chance
What is significant about Tennant’s design argument?
• One of the first to put forward a design argument that included acceptance of evolution
- Creatures do not randomly evolve, they make progress
- Life forms become more intelligent and increase in moral awareness
According to Tennant, which three types of natural evidence suggest a designer?
- That the world can be analysed in a rational way
- That the inorganic world provides necessities to sustain life
- That evolution has led to intelligent human life
What is Tennant’s anthropic principle?
- Natural laws are fine-tuned (cosmic fine-tuning) to allow human life to exist
- If gravity or atmospheric gases were even slightly different, human life could not have existed
- Tennant argues against the claim that the universe is a change of coincidences
Explain, scientifically, how unlikely our existence is.
- The mass density of the universe is finely balanced to permit life to a degree of one part in 10(to power 60).
- If the universe were slightly more massive, an overabundance of deuterium from the big bang would cause stars to burn too rapidly for the formation of complex life.
- If the universe were slightly less massive, an insufficiency of helium would result in a shortage of the heavy elements - again, resulting in no life.
What is the strong anthropic principle?
- The universe must have the properties that make existence of intelligent life inevitable
- The conditions are intrinsic to the Big Bang
What is the weak anthropic principle?
• It is impossible to observe a universe that does not permit the existence of observers
What is the participatory anthropic principle?
• An observer is needed to cause the collapse of the wave function
What is Tennant’s aesthetic principle?
- We have an appreciation for beauty, but it is not needed for survival - does not perform a utilitarian function
- No other species appreciate beauty
- God wanted His creation to enjoy living in the world
Give a quote from Tennant to explain how he views beauty.
• “Biologically superfluous accompaniment of the cosmic process”
