Can teleological arguments be defended against the challenge of chance -A&O

Question 1

INTRO - define teleological

Answer 1

Teleological – look at the purpose of the world to draw conclusions about God and the nature of existence

Question 2

INTRO - define both sides of the debate

Answer 2

Empirical; purpose in the world is evident / explainable by chance and evolution

Question 3

INTRO - position

Answer 3

Arguments of chance more convincing and if we were to accept that there was a designer we can only hypothesis that the design was bad

Question 4

Section 1: theme

Answer 4

Aquinas – Summa Theologica

Question 5

Section 1: AO1

AQUINAS

Answer 5

Design Qua purpose
Aquinas’ 5th way in his Summa Theologica argues that everything in the universe has a purpose (telos) and achieves its end through its design. This comes from God. Aquinas uses the analogy of the archer to show this as just as the archer guides an arrow to its target, God guides everything to its end

Question 6

Section 1: AO2 AGAINST

AQUINAS

Answer 6

Hume: We have some knowledge of this world but we are incorrect to conclude that from the idea of this finite, imperfect world an infinite perfect God is responsible
Strengthened by the analogy of some scales with one pan lifted so we cannot see what is in it. We cannot make assumptions about what we cannot see. Likewise, we cannot assume that God is responsible

Epicurean Hypothesis (Hume): given infinite time every particle in the universe would have been given time to combine, which would result in a stable environment able to sustain life

Question 7

Section 1: CONCLUSION

AQUINAS

Answer 7

Even if we did accept the idea of a designer it would not align with the monotheistic God that Aquinas and Paley believed but one which was not omnibenevolent and flawed

Question 8

Section 2: theme

Answer 8

Paley Qua via purpose

Question 9

Section 2: AO1

PALEY

Answer 9

(a posteriori) (inductive)

The analogy of the watch postulates that within nature there is evidence of design. If we stumble upon a watch we would know that there was a watchmaker, likewise, the complexity, regularity, and order within the universe lead us to the idea that there is a designer. Paley says this is God.

Question 10

Section 2: AO2 FOR

PALEY

Answer 10

Paley Design qua regularity – Evolution itself is one of the things that make the universe is so ordered

Question 11

Section 2: AO2 AGAINST

PALEY

Answer 11

Hume: In choosing a machine for his object of comparison Paley has already determined the outcome he wants. Machines have makers and so when this idea is projected into the world, inevitably Paley would conclude that the world must also have a maker.

Considers a cabbage. This too shows complete design in its structure. Yet one would not presume that there exists a cabbage maker. To Hume the world resembles more of a vegetable than a machine due to its organic nature.

Question 12

Section 2: AO2 CONCLUSION

PALEY

Answer 12

Clear to see where Hume is coming from as analogies from people like Paley seem very assumptive

Question 13

Section 3: Theme

Answer 13

FR Tennant – the Anthropic principle

Question 14

Section 3: AO1

TENNANT

Answer 14

F.R Tennant
Suggests the universe exists for the sake of humankind as if the initial conditions of the earth had been otherwise, we would not exist to observe these conditions. Can’t have just evolved, conditions are so right that it must have been designed, everything is for our benefit.

Question 15

Section 3: AO2 FOR

TENNANT

Answer 15

Oxygen in the air / materials of food + water in abundance needed for human survival – everything exactly suited towards our survival

Question 16

Section 3: AO2 AGAINST

TENNANT

Answer 16

Species develop to their climate by random mutation and only the ones that are best suited survive ‘Survival of the fittest’

Supports Hume’s argument that ‘apparent order’ can come from chaos. If countless number of species have not survived, because they could not adapt, then if this represents design it seems a wasteful process. If all species have evolved from simpler species, that indicates that we were not designed as we are