Teleological Flashcards
Aquinas’ 5th way
Aquinas observed that natural objects/beings do not behave randomly, but moved towards a certain goal or purpose (end/telos).
We can observe that things act ‘always, or nearly always’ in the same way to ‘obtain the best result’, meaning to attain their purpose.
The idea is that things we observe in the world are goal-directed. For example, flowers can move in alignment with the sun throughout the day to get more sunlight.
Analogy of the arhcer- An arrow hits a target even though it isn’t intelligent and cannot comprehend what it’s doing. There must be something which can comprehend the goal/end of the arrow and influenced/designed it to move in the way it does: the archer (who has intelligence) did this by shooting the arrow in a particular way while having the goal/end in mind.
a1) hume - chance
1)Chance
- see how purpose is merely chance, only looks ordered as this is neccessary to surivie and reproduce
Epicureain hypothesis – if atome rearrengeered over an eterneinity would eventually reach state of order in universe Compelling – Darwin develops ideas with natural selection/evolution 80 years after hume
Dawkins - Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins called his book where he criticised the design argument “The Blind Watchmaker”. This is a reference to Paley. Dawkins is accepting that yes there is a watchmaker of the universe, but it is blind, meaning the mechanical forces of nature.
Defense - Tennant
Tennent’s anthropic principle. Tennant points out that this universe being hospitable to living beings requires a “unique assembly of unique properties” Our universe has to be orderly and the order must be of a particular kind in order for evolution to have been possible and thus for us to exist.
Defense - Swinburne
Aquinas and paley are weak as rely on spatial order- (regularities of co-presence), which is the order of objects in space. The human eye is an example of spatial order because it involves the complex arrangement of things in physical space.
- Spatial order cannot justify belief in God because it can be explained by evolution or Hume’s arguments that it could result from chance (spatial disorder, the epicurean hypothesis & problem of evil).
More convicning – looks to temporal order - (regularities of succession) refers to the orderliness of a thing’s behaviour over time due to physical laws. Eg) the element of hydrogen has the same properties everywhere in the universe and since it first existed.
– Temporal order is maintained by natural laws – the laws discovered by physics.
– see ‘fine tuning’ in the universe, Science cannot explain why these laws exist. Science tells us the what but not the why. For example, science can tell us that E=mc², but it cannot tell us why E=mc². Purpose is metaphysical
Hume - Unique case argument
“To make this reasoning secure, we would need to have had experience of the origins of worlds” – Hume.
Weak – swinburne assumes we ‘have experience of other worlds’ being able to judge /know what order looks like
Would need to see the ‘creation of other worlds’ , seeing how order is formed or similiar order
So, we ultimately have no basis on which to infer the existence of a creator from our universe.
Eg) Justifiably inferring that a house has a designer requires either experience of that house being made by a designer, or experience of other houses being made by a designer.
Commits fallacy of composition
Simply as we design things with a purpose doesn’t mean the universe as an whole has a purpose
Paley
Paley’s design qua Purpose is Paley’s argument that the combination of complexity and purpose, which we observe in natural objects/beings, is best explained by a designer.
Paley illustrates this with the example of a watch. If you were walking on a heath and came across a rock, you could easily think that it had always been lying there. At least, there is nothing about the rock which clearly suggests otherwise.
1)Hume -Too great a logical jump, Problem of analogy
Large logical disconnect between the watch and the world, watch is manmade object, created with distinct purpose – it stands out from the heath because the natural worlds order is not as clear
Our world is radically disaanaologus to anthing within human expereince , the worlds order is beyond any degree of comparison
“Can you claim to show any such similarity between the structure of a house and the generation of a universe?
Finally, Hume argues that we can’t even claim there is analogy between artefacts and natural objects. Artifacts are mechanical, meaning they have a mathematically precise design and structure. In general, however, the universe appears more organic. It is more chaotic.
Compelling – ockhams razor – natural explination of chance is simplest and thus most compelling
2)Telos is a psychoiglical construct
Kant –telos a means of our perception, see order in purpose we give to things, thus aim to impose it on the world
Hamburger – merely because the world is complex doesn’t negate the clearest explanation being chance
Dawkins – what colour is jelously – assumes jelously has a colour, same applies to Telos
3)Cannot infer a cause from an effect
cannot infer a cause from an effect; analogy of the scales, on side is hidden, beyond empirical perception to know what weighs it down
Swinburne’s defense – use Ockham’s razor against Hume reasoning
Swinburne 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. Swinburne also points to the uniformity of the laws of physics as suggesting a single designer
Hume - problem of evil
Charles Darwin “I cannot see … evidence of design … There seems to me too much misery in the world.
Hume puts the argument more philosophically:
P1. We are only justified in believing what the evidence suggests (empiricism).
P2. We only have evidence of imperfection (a world with both good and evil).
C1. We are only justified in believing that imperfection exists.
C2. So, belief in a perfectly good being is not justified.
Defense – ideas evil is part of teleoigcal purpose, provides soul making (hick)
Eval
-Evil is not justifief by minimal positive purpose
Eg) holocuast, no purposeful but cruel
Js Mill - dystelological, no order but actions we condemn are natures everyday pefromaces
Hitchens – evolution dismisses both gods existence, and also perfect god
