Arguments Based On Observation Flashcards
What are the two arguments based on observation?
Teleological
Cosmological
What are the arguments, a priori or a posteriori?
A posteriori
What argument is the teleological based off of?
Design
What argument is the cosmological based off of?
Origin of the universe
What do Aristotelian-Thomistic scholars think?
That efficient causality is unthinkable without final causality
What does that mean?
Efficient causes change things or bring them into existence
Final causes are just the outcome of these causes
Who proposed the cosmos is directed by intelligence?
Plato
How many ways did Aquinas give to prove God exists?
5
Which of the five ways is the teleological argument?
5th
What is the focus for Aquinas?
How we achieve our purpose - due to God
Who was Aquinas inspired by?
Aristotle
What is natural theology?
Understanding the existence of God by observation
What was the main aim for Aquinas?
To allow Christians to use Aristotles common sense as also evidence for a God
What was Aquinas’ book called?
Summa Theologica
What is Aquinas’ fifth way?
The natural world obeys natural laws
Natural things flourish as they obey these laws
Things without intelligence cannot guide themselves
Therefore they need something with intelligence to guide them
This is God
What is the analogy to prove Gods guidance?
Archer and arrow
Without an archer the arrow will not move
Who came up with another design argument?
William Paley
What did Paley observe that objects have to be designed?
Regularity - seasons of the year
Purpose - eye to be able to see
What is the analogy of the watch?
If someone went across the heath and found a rock they wouldn’t question it
If they found a watch they would ask how it got there and assume a designer
This is due to its complexity
Therefore the universe must have a designer
Who critiques the design argument?
David Hume
Why does he think an a posteriori observation is flawed in proving a perfect God?
The world contains imperfections like evil
How does Paley respond to this?
Even a broken watch must have a watch maker
Why does Hume criticise the use of the analogy?
Just because the universe and a watch are complex doesn’t mean they have the same cause
You can’t compare things that are not like for like
Why does Hume say that the universe could not have a designer?
We have not seen it being made or anything like it
We can see a watch being made
What did he say we can’t prove even if we have evidence of design?
That it was designed by the God of classical theism
It could be made by a apprentice God
It could be made by multiple Gods
How does Swinburne respond to this?
Ockham’s razor
There could be multiple Gods but it’s simpler if there’s only one
The uniformity to the laws of physics suggest a simple designer
What is Hume’s Epicurean hypothesis?
Given an infinite amount of time atoms will collide in such a way that an orderly arrangement will come about
What is an analogy explaining this?
If there was an infinite amount of monkeys typing on an infinite amount of type writers they would eventually write all the works of Shakespeare
What is a scientific view that apposes this?
Time began at the big bang
What is an argument around this?
There may have been infinite universes before ours
What is an argument that animals and plants were designed?
Darwin’s theory of evolution
Why does evolution not support the design theory?
There’s no order as organisms change and adapt to their surroundings instead
Who made arguments against evolution?
F.R. Tennent
What principles did he have to apposition this?
Aesthetic
Anthropic
What is Tennent’s aesthetic principle?
Evolution cannot produce humans
Perception of beauty isn’t a survival advantage
What did Dawkins respond with?
Beauty makes animals more attractive to their mate which produces an offspring, which is good for survival
What is a defence of Tennent?
Sexual attraction isn’t the only beauty like music and literature
What is the counter defence?
The evolution of the perception of beauty could simply be a byproduct of the evolution of intelligence
What is Tennent’s anthropic principle?
Our universe has to be in a certain order for evolution to be possible which suggests a design
What is an example Dawkins and Atkins point to be profound suffering and cruelty on the process of evolution?
The female digger wasp lays eggs in the caterpillar so that the larva can eat the insides out as they grow
She also stings it to paralyse it so it’s alive when they are eating it
What does evolution also challenge?
Causation including a telos
As natural processes can be explained without referring to a goal
What is Swinburne’s design argument from temporal order/regularities of succession?
Laws of nature are unchanging which is unlikely just by change and science can explain why but not how
What is an example of this?
Everything in the universe has been made up of 12 fundamental sub-atomic particles
Carbon has the same properties it had 10 billion years ago
What is the explanation called where the regularities were created by an intelligent mind?
Personal explaination
Who suggests the multiverse theory?
Max Tegmark
What is the multiverse theory?
That our universe is just one of an infinite number of universes so the fact that ours is fine tuned for human existence is through the infinite possibilities
What does Polkinghorne say about the multiverse theory?
It’s a ‘bold speculation’ and a ‘metaphysical guess’
What does Tegmark say about Fecundity?
Although human life might not be possible with different laws of nature, other intelligent life could be
How else does Hume argue that the universe might not be fine tuned?
We don’t know the default state of the universe
What is the cosmological argument answering?
Why is there something instead of nothing?
Where is the classic formulations of the cosmological argument found?
In the first three of Aquinas’ five ways
What is Aquinas’ first way?
All things that move are moved by something else
The mover is moved by something else
This can’t go onto infinity as there would be no first mover to start moving
So there must be a first mover called God
What is Aquinas’ second way?
All things are caused by other things
Nothing can be caused by itself
You can’t go back in an infinite chain of causes
There must be a first cause itself uncaused
This is what people call God
What is Aquinas’ third way?
All things are contingent
There must be something necessary to have started everything
This is what people call God
What is a contingent being?
Something that relies on something else for its existence
What is a necessary being?
Something that does not rely on anything else for its existence
What are the first three ways called?
1 - unmoved mover
2 - uncaused causer
3 - contingency and necessity
Who objects to the causal principle?
Hume
How does Hume object to this?
The causal principle can only be proved with a posteriori grounds
These can’t be proved
We don’t know if all effects have a cause only the ones we can observe
How can this be defended?
All the effects we can see have a cause
This could be false but at the moment we are empirically justified
What counters this?
We can’t assume that just because the causes in our universe are empirically justified, this is the same way the universe came into existence
Who came up with the Principle of Sufficient Reason?
Gottfried Leibniz
What is the Principle of sufficient reason?
If something exists there must be a reason why that thing exists
If there’s a statement that’s true there must be a reason that it’s true
If something happens there must be a reason why that thing happens
What does the principle also state?
That there should be a total explanation rather than a partial one for any phenomenon
What is the fallacy of composition?
Hume argues that you cannot move from saying individual elements of the universe require an explanation to the whole universe requires one
What is an example of a fallacy of composition?
Because all the tiles on the floor are square doesn’t mean the whole floor has to be square
What is a limitation of this metaphor?
If you substitute colour for shape it would make the whole floor the same colour
How does Bertrand Russel illustrate this instead?
Just because every human has a mother doesn’t mean the human race has a mother
What does Russel conclude?
The universe is ‘just there that’s all’
It could exist without reason,cause or explanation
What do Aquinas’ 1st and 2nd not explicitly claim?
That the universe has a cause because it’s parts have a cause
How does Copleston respond to the fallacy of composition?
A series is either uncaused or caused
If it were uncaused, reason for existence must be internal
Contingent things can’t be necessary
A series of contingent things must have a cause
There must be a cause external to them
What does Hume say the reality of the ‘whole’ is?
‘Arbitrary acts of the mind’
When you unite several countries into one kingdom it has no influence on nature
How does Russell prove that a series could have no cause or reason at all?
Quantum mechanics
Individual quantum transitions in atoms have no cause
How does Coplestone respond?
Only some interpretations of quantum mechanics propose uncaused events
Science and philosophy is looking for causes and explainations
How does Russell respond?
Scientists may look for causes but don’t assume there is one to find
Science should accept the possibility like with quantum mechanics that the universe like this could have no cause or explanation
How can the word ‘universe’ be convenient?
It could refer to our own perceptions rather than reality
What supports this?
Modern physics shows ‘pocket universes’ which exist in larger ones which makes it harder to look for a ‘whole’
What is an example of Humes saying that like causes produce like effects?
Parent rabbits produce baby rabbits
What can we assume from this?
That there’s a male and female creator God
What’s another theory that would mean the cosmological argument would fail?
Infinite regress
What does Hume say that something needed to be to be impossible?
Self-contradictory
What is an example of this?
A four sided triangle
Is infinite regress self-contradictory?
No
How does Craig say that infinity is impossible?
He illustrates it with a library saying that if there were an infinite amount of red books and an infinite amount of green, then if you took away all of the green there would still be an infinite amount of red left
How is this flawed?
It involves an infinite amount of physical objects
But infinite regress could be an infinite amount of objects existing over an infinite amount of time
He has shown the absurdity of physical infinities not temporal ones
How does Aquinas claim infinite regress is possible?
