3. Arguments based on observation - Teleological

Question 1

Teleological arguemnt - first arguements

Plato’s

Answer 1

• Put foward 1st design arguement.
• ‘The Timaeus’ = suggests cosmic craftsman, brought together materials of universe to make it orderly and beautiful.

Question 2

Teleological arguemnt - first arguements

Cicero

Answer 2

• 106-43BC
• Roman
• “What could be more clear or obvious when we look up to the sky and contempted the heavens, that there is something divinely or intelligent.”

Question 3

Teleological arguement

Teleological arguements

Answer 3

An attempt to prove the existence of God that begins with the observation of the purposiveness of nature

Question 4

Teleological arguement

Aquinas

Answer 4

1225-1274, Italy

Question 5

Teleological arguement - 5th way

Premesis and conclusion

Answer 5

P1: The behaviour of objects is goal-directed towards an end (telos), because they follow natural laws.
P2: Natural laws cannot have been created by objects themselves, since they are non-intelligent or insufficiently intelligent.
C1: Natural laws must have an intelligent designer. ‘That thing we call God.’

Question 6

Teleological arguement - 5th way

Aquinas’ arrow example

Answer 6

• Arrow hits a target even though it’s not intelligent and cannot comprehend its actions.
• There must be something which can comprehend the telos of the arrow and influenced/designed it to move in the way it does = the archer.
• Archer = God

Question 7

Teleological arguement - 5th way

How God interacts with the world

Answer 7

God directs the behaviour of objects by creating natiral laws which govern and regulate behaviour of all objects by directing them towards telos God has in mind.

Question 8

Teleological arguement - 5th way

Aquinas quote

Answer 8

“God is the devine designer of everything.”

Question 9

Teleological arguemnt - Paley

Paley dates + country

Answer 9

1743-1805
British philosopher and clergyman.

Question 10

Teleological arguemnt - Paley

Paley book

Answer 10

Natural Theology 1802

Question 11

Teleological arguemnt - Paley

Paley quote 2x

Answer 11

“Every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature.”
“Every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature.”

Question 12

Teleological arguement - Paley

Watchmaker analogy

Answer 12

• If someone found a watch on a heath, due to the complexity of its design, would assume it had a creator.
• If the parts were themselves any differently shaped, composed of other materials, or were placed in any other arrangement, the purpose of telling the time would not have resulted.
• Not by chance.

Question 13

Teleological arguement - Paley

Human eye

Answer 13

• Complex and has purpose.
• Arranged to fill purpose of sight.

Question 14

Teleological arguement - Paley

Designer’s role

Answer 14

• This designer must have a mind, because design requires a designer who has a purpose in mind and know how a certain arrangement of particular parts will bring about that purpose.

Question 15

Teleological arguement

Use of analogy - strengths

Answer 15

• Provided best explaination style.
• When we cannot directly observe the cause of something, it is empirically valid to turn to analogy.
• Used by scientists during animal testing before human testing.
• SWINEBURNE = claims arguments by analogy are “common in scientific inference”.

Question 16

Teleological arguement

Use of analogy - Hume, weakness

Answer 16

• just because two things look alike doesn’t mean they were caused by the same thing. Similar effects might come from different causes, so we can’t assume sameness just from appearances.
• e.g. smoke produced by fire and dry ice simular but not the same.
• just because the effect of the universe and the effect of a man-made thing like a house (Hume’s example) or a watch (Paley) are like each other in that they both have complexity and purpose, it doesn’t follow that the cause of the universe must be like the cause of a house/watch i.e., a designer. Two effects which are alike (analogous) might in fact have very different causes.

Question 17

Teleological

Hume’s counter arguement

Answer 17

• Hume’s criticism of Paley’s argument might not hold because Paley’s argument isn’t necessarily based on an analogy.
• Paley’s argument isn’t about comparing artifacts to the universe; it’s about a specific property: complexity and purpose.
• Paley argues that when intricate parts come together in a precise way for a purpose, chance isn’t a likely explanation; a designing mind makes more sense.

Question 18

Teleological

Strength - it’s basis in Aquinas’ Natural theology

Answer 18

• A. positioned his arguements to not claim too much, Paley followed suit.
• Both accept design argument at most shows some designer of great power, but it doesn’t prove Christian God in particular.
• HUME ~ God isn’t only explaination, even with evidence of design, doesn’t support claim it was God of Classical Theism.

Question 19

Teleological arguement

Swineburne’s defence

Answer 19

• Thinks that Ockham’s razor can be used against some of Hume’s claims here.
• One God being responsible for the design of the universe is a simpler explanation than multiple.
• Points to the uniformity of the laws of physics as suggesting a single designer.

Question 20

Teleological arguement - Weakness

Darwin’s evolution

Answer 20

• Natural selection.
• Order in nature not necessarily evidence of purpose and design but instead be explained by natural scientific means.
• Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins book where he criticised the design argument “The Blind Watchmaker”.
• Dawkins is accepting that yes there is a watchmaker of the universe, but it is blind, meaning the mechanical forces of nature.

Question 21

Teleological arguement - evaluation

Disteleological arguement

Answer 21

God = cruel designer, meant to be omniscient, just, transendent, OmniB and omniP.
Hume + JSM offer version where problem of evil seen as absense of order. e.g. fly, childbirth, disabilities, ocean.

Question 22

Teleological arguement - evaluation

Strengths

Answer 22

We can all see the world around us and appreciate elements of beauty, order, purpose - those elements on a global scale could be best explained by God’s existance.

Question 23

Teleological arguement - evaluation

Weaknesses

Answer 23

• Darwin’s evolution.
• Hume = watch analogy is weak, world isn’t like a watch in it mechanisms. Universe - unique, no way of knowing how they’re usually made or if ours is unusually ordered.
• Not everyone sees world as orderly and beautiful, but chaotic, ugly and pointless.
• Chance = another possibilties, may be considered better than God hypothesis.

Question 24

Teleological arguement - evaluation

Posterori criticism.

Answer 24

Can only lead to probable conclusions and doesnt prove anything.