Teleological argument Flashcards
what does the word telos mean
- purpose
- end result of some kind of action
what does the phrase teleological argument refer to
- arguments for the existence of God which look at things in the universe and try to show that they have been designed for some reason or purpose
how does the teleological argument set out to prove the existence of God
- from empirical facts
- starts from observing empirical evidence of design and order in the natural world
what is the premise of the teleological argument
- that the universe shows evidence of order and hence design
what is the teleological argument also known as
- the design argument
what is teleology
- the doctrine that there is evidence of purpose or design in the universe and that this provides proof of the existence of a designer i.e. God
what type of argument is the teleological argument
- a posteriori
how is the teleological argument backwards looking
- it starts from the results and tries to work out what causes them
what way is the teleological argument
Aquinas’ fifth way
discuss Aquinas’ design qua regularity
- he identifies the way in which ‘natural bodies’ that lack intelligence act in a regular fashion to accomplish their end provides the evidence for the existence of an intelligent being
- the laws of nature direct things and these were set up by God
- Aquinas concludes that laws of nature cannot have occurred by random chance: events follow scientific laws which are predictable, regular and unvarying
give some of Aquinas’ design qua regularity quote
- to obtain the best result. hence it s plain they achieve their end not fortuitously but designedly
- whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence i.e. God
what are the premises of Aquinas’ design qua regularity argument
- when you look at the natural order of the world you can see that everything in It follows the laws of nature even if the things are not conscious thinking beings
- If things follow the laws of nature they tend to do well and have some goal or purpose
- However if a thing cannot think for itself it does not have any goal or purpose unless it is directed by something that thinks as demonstrated in his example about the arrow and archer
- CONCLUSION: everything in the natural world that does not think for itself heads towards a goal or purpose because it is directed by something which does think. That thing we call God
What is Aquinas’ design qua regularity
This argument looks at design in relation to the order and regularity in the universe
What is Aquinas’ teleological argument and design qua regularity influenced by
- Aristotle’s theory of the four causes
- Aquinas links Aristotles idea of the final cause to God
- God made things have a purpose and follow laws of nature
What is Paley’s design qua purpose argument based on
- based on the analogy between machines (where we know there is a human designer) and the world
- a watch on the floor is picked up and examined it you would come to the conclusion it was work of a designer as it’s parts fit together for a common purpose
- world works in a way even more complex than watch and therefore work of designer also: God
Give some of Paley’s design qua purpose quote
- look round the world; contemplate the whole and every part of it: you will find it to be nothing but one great machine subdivided into an infinite number of lesser machines
- therefore we are led to infer that the author of nature is somewhat similar to the mind of a man though possessed of much larger faculties
What does Paley’s design qua purpose argument look at
The evidence of design in relation to the way in which parts of the universe appear to fit together for some purpose
What are the premises of Paley’s design qua purpose argument
- A watch is a machine designed for the purpose of telling time (effect)
- It’s features suggest an intelligent designer (cause)
- The natural world and all of the universe show features of design (effect)
- Conclusion: the universe must have an inteligente designer (a cause)
What is the problem with Paley’s design qua purpose analogy
Like the cosmological argument it observes cause and effect and then jumps to conclusions about the cause of the universe with no empirical evidence or proof
what does Paley say about the criticism of never seeing the watch being made in relation to his design qua purpose argument
he claims the argument would not be weakened if we had never seen the watch made or known the artist as it isn’t necessary for the purpose of the analogy
neither it would validate our conclusion that the watch sometimes went wrong or that it seldom went exactly right it is not necessary that a machine be perfect in order to show with what design it was made e.g. natural evils
how did Paley use the example of the eye to demonstrate his ideas of design qua purpose
- in way its adapted to sight to illustrate design
- its various parts operate in complex ways and therefore suggests an intelligent designer
what was Paley’s argument of design qua regularity
- he used evidence from astronomy and Newton’s law of motion and gravity to prove there is design in the universe
- points to the rotation of planets in the solar system and how they obey the same universal laws and hold their orbits because of gravity
- couldn’t have come about by chance
- concluded an external agent must have imposed order on the universe as a whole and its many parts and this agent must be God
why was the design argument so successful and deeply entrenched in people’s minds in the 18th century
- it was the age of the flourishing industrial revolution and the invention of new designs
- when the world was compared to a machine and God the designer it appealed to many people
what did Hume dare to suggest
- that the teleological argument and concepts of God were so flawed as to be completely meaningless
