Argument for God's existence - Design Argument Flashcards
a posteriori arguments: the teleological argument
The word teleological comes from the Greek word telos, meaning goal or purpose. The world and things in it seem to move towards certain goals or ends.
a posteriori arguments
Arguments based on observation are called in Latin a posteriori arguments.
These have a prominent place in the philosophy of religion.
Aquinas’ five ways are all a posteriori as he did not believe an a priori argument (an argument based purely on logic or deduction) for God would be valid.
This was a consequence of the epistemology (theory of knowledge) that he had inherited from Aristotle.
efficient and final causes
Aristotelian-Thomistic scholars (working in the tradition of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas) say that efficient causality is unthinkable without final causality.
- Efficient causes change things or bring them into existence (e.g. heat is the efficient cause of the melting of ice and phosphorous in a match head is the efficient cause of the flame on a match).
- Final causes are just the outcome of these causes – the water/the flame. When we talk about telos, we mean these final causes.
what does the ancient Greek word telos mean
goal or purpose
efficient and final causes - melting ice example
Efficient causes change things or bring them into existence. Final causes are just the outcome of these causes. In the example of the melting of ice…
the efficient cause is heat
the final cause is water
The teleological argument: Aquinas’ Fifth Way
Teleological arguments go all the way back to Plato. Plato proposed that the cosmos is directed by intelligence.
aquinas’s fifth way
Aquinas’ fifth way uses the observation that non-intelligent organic life acts in certain ordered, cyclical and purposive ways. For example:
- Given the right conditions, acorns always grow into oak trees and not wombats.
- The moon has a regular 29 and a half-day cycle.
acting goals & intelligence
The fact that non-intelligent things (like acorns and plankton) always act in certain ways for certain goals implies that they were given those goals by intelligence because only intelligent beings can assign a purpose to things and move that thing towards its purpose.
archery example
Aquinas gives the example of arrows fired by an archer to hit a target.
- Without the archer giving the purposive direction, the arrow would remain in the quiver.
A simplified version of the argument might say that the order and purpose we see in the universe needs an explanation in terms of a guiding intelligence.
Aquinas’s fifth way
The argument can be put like this:
- The natural world obeys natural laws.
- Natural things flourish as they obey these laws.
- Things without intelligence can’t direct themselves.
- Therefore, things without intelligence require something with intelligence to direct them to their goals.
- This is God.
whats the Latin term for arguement based on observation
a posteriori arguments
what analogy does Aquinas use for his fifth way argument
the archery
what are the efficient and final causes
final causes are the outcome of change
efficient causes change things or bring them into existence
William Paley’s Design Argument
William Paley uses the complexity of design in his argument
Paley’s design argument
If someone found a rock on the ground, they would not need to ask how the rock got there – they would assume natural causes.
But if someone found a watch on the ground, the previous answer would not work – that the watch had always been there. They would assume a designer.
This is because of the complexity and inherent purpose of the watch – it has been put together in a complex manner to tell the time.
The universe is much more complex and ordered. So the universe must have a designer.
counter-teleological arguments
Both teleological arguments ‘beg the question’.
- Aquinas assumes all things need a designer to conclude that God designed everything.
- Paley gives the example of a watch, something which we know has been designed, as an analogy for the world, whose design is the thing in question.
Hume said that analogy can only compare similar things. The watch is not similar to the universe. As the universe seems organic, why not compare something organic, like a cabbage?
The universe is not like all the other things we can experience.
A watch has many designers usually – why not the universe?
The universe could have come about randomly and still look designed, given enough time. Philo’s Epicurean hypothesis (the world is the chance arrangements of atoms) is relevant.
The presence of evil and suffering in the universe prompts us to ask what kind of designer it has.
- Eg. Dawkins’ Digger Wasp example (a particularly cruel example of suffering in the natural world).
which animal featured in Dawkins’ experiment, showing suffering in nature
bee
evolutionary challenges to the design argument
There are some major challenges that Darwin’s theory of evolution has thrown up against the design argument. Here are the most important:
- complexity and order are natural
- suffering in evolutionary processes
- no need for a goal
complexity and order are natural
Random changes can lead to order and complex systems can be self-arranging – this is the upshot of the nature of evolution, in which organisms which adapt to their environments can pass on their genes more effectively than ones that can’t.
So there is no need to appeal to a divine intelligence to account for complexity and ‘order’ – they arise ‘naturally’ from the processes of evolution and natural selection.
suffering in evolutionary processes
Dawkins and Atkins point to profound suffering and cruelty in the processes of evolution.
- For example, the female digger wasp lays her eggs in a caterpillar so that the larva can eat the insides as they grow. She also stings it to paralyse it so it is alive as they are eating it
no need for a goal
Evolution challenges the Aristotelian account of causation which includes telos or purpose as it shows that natural processes can be explained without the need to refer to a goal.
which two scientists draw attention to profound suffering and cruelty in the processes of evolution
dawkins
atkins
dawkins & atkins’ counter argument: cruelty in evolution
The female digger wasp lays her eggs in a caterpillar so that the larva can eat the insides as they grow. She also stings it to paralyse it so it is alive as they are eating it
Hume’s criticisms of the teleological argument
David Hume saw the following faults in the teleological argument.
unsound analogy
one of many arguments
problems with man-made energy
imperfect & immoral God
