Teleological Argument Flashcards
Aquinas Fifth Way
Governance of the world
Aquinas’ Fifth Way (4)
- We see that things which lack intelligence act for an end so as to obtain the best result
- Whatever lacks intelligence can’t move towards an end unless it’s directed by something with knowledge
- There must be a knowledgeable being
- This is God
Is Aquinas’ Fifth Way A priori or A posteriori?
A Posteriori
What does Aquinas argue in his Fifth Way? (X and Y)
- If X is the efficient cause of Y, the Y is the final cause of X.
- Hence, efficient causes are directed towards specific events beyond themselves.
What example does Aquinas use in his Fifth Way?
We observe that nature exhibits regularities e.g. lightning is directed towards forest fires.
Induction Problem
Just because something has happened a million times before, it doesn’t mean it will happen again. The laws of nature isn’t a good enough explanation.
How do causes ‘know’ to always have a ‘goal’ in mind?
Aquinas argues that there must be a designer that keeps things regular - this is God.
Who was Hume?
A Scottish enlightenment philosopher
Hume’s Criticism One
It’s fine to say that the Universe was designed but no evidence to it being God.
Even if their is a designer, it might not be a classical theistic God. To say that this being is God is to go beyond the evidence presented by design.
Hume’s Criticism Two
The Universe is so unique that to give it a human quality of design is wrong.
To say that the Universe is unique is to say that there’s only one Universe. Even if there is only one Universe, it might not be unique in its properties.
Hume’s Criticism Three
What came before the designer?
If the material world rests upon a similar ideal world, this ideal world must rest upon some other and so on. Infinite regress makes this impossible.
Hume’s Criticism Four
Anthropomorphism - Hume argues that the designer shouldn’t have human characteristics.
It’s a human quality to design things which leads us to believe that God’s human but we’re told He isn’t so this leads to confusion.
Hume’s Criticism Five
Multiple Gods - Humans usually work together to design so why doesn’t God do the same?
There may be more than one designer that contributes to the making of the Earth.
Hume’s Criticism Six
The Universe can easily be regarded as a living organism such as a plant.
There’s no evidence for a plant (complex) to have a designer so why would the Universe (also complex) have a designer.
Hume’s Criticism Seven
The order of the Universe could easily be a result of chance.
Hume’s Criticism Eight
If God is so perfect why does the Universe have so many faults?
Natural Selection
The theory of natural selection says that individuals of a species are more likely to survive in their environment and pass on their genes to the next generation when they inherit traits from their parents that are best suited for that specific environment.
Who influenced Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection?
Paley’s book, ‘Natural Theology’
Survival of the Fittest
The natural process by which organisms best adjusted to their environment are most successful in surviving and reproducing.
Darwin’s Scientific Criticisms
- The vast majority of variations are useless or harmful rather than beneficial
- If a species is fates to evolve then a dozen variations must die before the final species is reached
- This doesn’t fit in with an omnibenevolent God
Darwin’s Philosophical Criticisms
- If variation was divinely guided, natural selection wouldn’t be important
- Each variation should be understood as random
- Darwin argued that knowledge of evolution removes the need for direct divine design
- Can’t science be the designer?
Darwin’s Theological Criticisms
How could a ‘loving God’ have made creatures with complex but horrific life-cycles?
Richard Dawkins Books
- The Selfish Gene 1976
- The Blind Watch-Maker 1986
- The God Delusion 2006
The Selfish Gene 1976
Explains the process of evolution in biology using genes as its basic unit, showing how they manifest in the form of organisms
The Blind Watch Maker 1986
- Attempts to establish a naturalistic explanation for the appearance of design in nature
- It shows that the complex process of Darwin’s natural selection is unconscious and automatic
- If natural selection is there, it’s blind and works without purpose
The God Delusion 2006
- A supernatural creator (God) almost certainly doesn’t exist
- Belief in a personal God qualifies as a delusion - persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence
