Philosophy: Teleological arguments

Question 1

What is the teleological argument?

Answer 1

Teleological arguments argue that the evidence of purpose and regularity in the universe leads to the conclusion that there is a designer-God. Telos means purpose and ology is study-so the study of purpose in the universe to show God exist.

Question 2

Paley’s watch analogy

Answer 2

claimed that if you came across a watch on a heath and had never seen it before, you would notice that it is very intricate and all the parts work together in order to form a purpose. Even if the watch did not work perfectly, You would have to conclude that the watch had not come about by chance but had a designer. He said the same was true of the world. All the parts work so well together to form a purpose that, like the watch, the world could not have come together by chance but must have a designer-God.

Question 3

Paley’s eye example

Answer 3

The eye was designed for the purpose of seeing and its complex design suggests an intelligent designer. Likewise, the intricate mechanisms of the human body suggest an intelligent designer. Paley also referred to the lacteal system-the number of teats in each species is found to bear the proportion to the number of the young. All of this evidence points to a designing creator-God

Question 4

Paley: Design qua regularity

Answer 4

Evidence from astronomy and Newton’s law’s of motion and gravity to prove design in the universe. The rotation of the planets in the solar system and how these obey universal laws. This could not have come about by chance. An external agent must have imposed order on the universe and this agent is God.
Supports Aquinas’s fifth way

Question 5

The Anthropic Principle

Answer 5

Polkinghorn: The cosmos is constructed for the development of intelligent life. If there had been just a minute change, then any life at all would have been unlikely to develop on earth.

Question 6

Irreducible complexity

Answer 6

Behe: Human eye could not have evolved. If you take a part a way it would not work. All the parts have to have come together at the same time for the eye to work and that needs an intelligent designer

Question 7

Aesthetic Argument

Answer 7

Tennant: the universe is not only ordered but beautiful at all levels. Humans can appreciate this beauty but this appreciation is not necessary for survival or development of life. This points to a divine designer.
God put things in the world for our enjoyment.

Question 8

Tennant + evolution

Answer 8

the progress of evolution towards the emergence of intelligent human life points to a divine designer.

Question 9

Dawkins response to Irreducible complexity

Answer 9

Evolution can explain the eye. It existed in the past in a much simpler form e.g. light sensitive cells and over millions of years, evolved to be as it is today. All different stages of the evolution of the eye can still be seen in the animal kingdom e.g. snail’s eye vs human eye.

Question 10

Laplace

Answer 10

(1749-1827) Universe is like a machine. God was no longer needed. Eventually all natural laws of the universe will be known and science will explain everything. God will not be needed for explanation.

Question 11

Hume response to watch analogy

Answer 11

Likening God to the designer of a watch is wrong because God transcends human understanding. Also, machines are regularly made by many people, so the analogy would better suggest that many Gods designed the world.

Question 12

Hume and insufficient knowledge

Answer 12

Humans do not have sufficient knowledge and experience of the creation of the world to conclude that there is only one designer. We only have experience of things we have created and designed. This is too limited to draw similar conclusions about the creation and design of the world.

Question 13

Hume response to theistic God

Answer 13

Why conclude that design in the universe is from the classical theistic God. Surely it could be the work of several lesser Gods, or an apprentice God who has moved on to create bigger and better worlds.

Question 14

Epicurean Hypothesis

Answer 14

If the world is ordered, then this could be due to chance. As the universe is eternal, in this unlimited time, it was inevitable that random particles would form a constantly ordered state.

Question 15

Natural selection

Answer 15

Darwin: This world looks well designed due to natural selection and survival of the fittest. A lucky, chance mutation of genes enables some living organisms to have advantageous features which enables them to survive. They pass this advantage onto their off spring. Thus, everything will always look well designed for its environment. Nature is the designer, not God.

Question 16

John Stuart Mill

Answer 16

(1806-1873). There is a lot of cruelty in nature e.g. the way that a cat plays with the mouse before it kills it. This does not suggest a benevolent God who created nature!

Question 17

Hume: cause and effect

Answer 17

We cannot make assumptions between cause and effect. We can see the world (the effect) but we cannot conclude anything about the designer God from the effects.

Question 18

Response 1 to Humes Epicurean Hypothesis

Answer 18

Polkinghorne gives the analogy that if you were lined up in front of a firing squad and they all aimed and missed, you would never conclude that this was chance. Likewise-the anthropic principle states that so many different factors had to happen for life to begin on earth that you could not conclude that this was chance. (Tennant would support this).

Question 19

Response 2 to Humes Epicurean Hypothesis

Answer 19

William Lane Craig argues that infinity does not make sense. This is because you cannot add to infinity e.g. if you have a library with infinite books and you add a book, you still have infinite books. If the universe was infinite, you could not add events to it but we do. Therefore, it is not infinite and so there is no such thing as infinite time. The Epicurean hypothesis fails

Where did the particles originally come from in the Epicurean hypothesis? Everything needs a beginning; these particles may have come from God.

Question 20

Response to suffering in the universe

Answer 20

There may be a good reason why God designed suffering. Hick and Irenaeus would argue that it is to develop humans and their virtues.

Question 21

Which criticisms of the Teleological argument support the fact that design is by chance?

Answer 21

• Darwin’s theory of evolution - chance mutations lead to survival of the fittest
• Principle of Ockham’s razor - can chance account for order and design? - causes assumptions - simplest explanation is correct.
• Epicurean Hypothesis
• Designer could not be infinite and perfect because of the evidence of flaws in the world e.g. suffering and death - Hume

Question 22

How can the teleological argument respond to the challenge of design by chance?

Answer 22

• The Anthropic Principle - universe has been structured in a way to ensure life develops
  Support: Goldilocks zone - perfect conditions for life on earth.
• Aesthetic argument-the universe is not only ordered but beautiful at all levels. Humans can appreciate this beauty but this appreciation is not necessary for survival or development of life. This points to a divine designer.
• Beauty is necessary for wellbeing - correlation between environment and mental health.
• Fibonacci sequence - human brain wired to appreciate maths in nature.
• The fact that the world can be analysed in a rational manner points to a divine designer.
• The way that the inorganic world has provided the basic necessities required for sustaining life points to a divine designer.
• William lane Craig - response to Epicurean Hypothesis - infinity does not exist.

Question 23

Aquinas’s fifth way

Answer 23

Everything in the universe works towards a purpose (design qua purpose) this is proof of a designer guiding objects
‘Everything in nature, therefore is directed to its goal by someone with understanding and this we call God.’
- e.g. The archer guiding the direction of the arrow.