Teleological Argument

Question 1

Teleological Argument

Answer 1

Argument from design

Argument for the existence of God based on perceived evidence of deliberate design in the natural or physical world

Question 2

Teleological Argument

Philosophers

Answer 2

For - Swineburn, Aquinas (5th way) and Paley’s Watch

Criticisms - Kant, Hume, Paley on Paley

Question 3

Swineburn

Answer 3

1. All design requires a designer
2. There’s compelling evidence of design in the universe (in the forms of regular laws of nature - fibonacci sequence)
3. Therefore, the universe has a designer
4. The design of the universe is such that the designer can only be an intelligence
5. God is the most likely intelligence to have designed the universe.

Question 4

Swineburn

commentary and general criticisms

Answer 4

• regular laws of nature include gravity and the fibonacci code
• Swineburn overall argues that God is the best explanation for the existence of the universe because the claim fits a significant number of criteria for a good explanation (Gods existence makes the universe less surprising)

Example: circle of chairs outside (represent universe) could be wind, more likely an individual

responses:

• universe finds balance naturally
• unlike chairs, universe isn’t perfect

Question 5

Paley’s Watch

Answer 5

analogy for argument of design

• a walker finds a stone and a watch. He concludes from the respective complexity that the stone isn’t designed but the watch is. Paley then draws an analogy between the universe and the watch. If one were to find the universe they would conclude that the universe is designed. Intricacy to the watch is complexity to the universe.

Question 6

Hume’s Criticism

three criticisms to TA

Answer 6

if all design requires a designer, who designed God?

how can one infer a benign deity from the horrific design exhibited (for example starvation, maggots eating the flesh of baby lambs)

TA doesn’t show that God is still alive, or that there’s only one designer, not hundres

Question 7

Paley on Paley

‘Hume’s Criticism’ To Paley and Paley’s Response

Answer 7

H - complexity doesn’t entail a designer
P - it seems absurd to hold this view in the case of a watch

H - the design of the world isn’t very good
P - the watch may malfunction but this isn’t evidence against a designer

H - argument leads to some being equivalent to a watch-maker, not traditional theism of God.

Question 8

Kant’s Criticism

Answer 8

There is a gap between designing the universe and actually creating or manufacturing it