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Philosophy And Ethics > Teleological argument > Flashcards

Teleological argument Flashcards

1
Q

what does the word telos mean

A
  • purpose

- end result of some kind of action

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2
Q

what does the phrase teleological argument refer to

A
  • 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
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3
Q

how does the teleological argument set out to prove the existence of God

A
  • from empirical facts

- starts from observing empirical evidence of design and order in the natural world

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4
Q

what is the premise of the teleological argument

A
  • that the universe shows evidence of order and hence design
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5
Q

what is the teleological argument also known as

A
  • the design argument
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6
Q

what is teleology

A
  • 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
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7
Q

what type of argument is the teleological argument

A
  • a posteriori
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8
Q

how is the teleological argument backwards looking

A
  • it starts from the results and tries to work out what causes them
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9
Q

what way is the teleological argument

A

Aquinas’ fifth way

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10
Q

discuss Aquinas’ design qua regularity

A
  • 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
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11
Q

give some of Aquinas’ design qua regularity quote

A
  • 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
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12
Q

what are the premises of Aquinas’ design qua regularity argument

A
  1. 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
  2. If things follow the laws of nature they tend to do well and have some goal or purpose
  3. 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
  4. 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
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13
Q

What is Aquinas’ design qua regularity

A

This argument looks at design in relation to the order and regularity in the universe

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14
Q

What is Aquinas’ teleological argument and design qua regularity influenced by

A
  • 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
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15
Q

What is Paley’s design qua purpose argument based on

A
  • 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
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16
Q

Give some of Paley’s design qua purpose quote

A
  • 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
17
Q

What does Paley’s design qua purpose argument look at

A

The evidence of design in relation to the way in which parts of the universe appear to fit together for some purpose

18
Q

What are the premises of Paley’s design qua purpose argument

A
  1. A watch is a machine designed for the purpose of telling time (effect)
  2. It’s features suggest an intelligent designer (cause)
  3. The natural world and all of the universe show features of design (effect)
  4. Conclusion: the universe must have an inteligente designer (a cause)
19
Q

What is the problem with Paley’s design qua purpose analogy

A

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

20
Q

what does Paley say about the criticism of never seeing the watch being made in relation to his design qua purpose argument

A

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

21
Q

how did Paley use the example of the eye to demonstrate his ideas of design qua purpose

A
  • in way its adapted to sight to illustrate design

- its various parts operate in complex ways and therefore suggests an intelligent designer

22
Q

what was Paley’s argument of design qua regularity

A
  • 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
23
Q

why was the design argument so successful and deeply entrenched in people’s minds in the 18th century

A
  • 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
24
Q

what did Hume dare to suggest

A
  • that the teleological argument and concepts of God were so flawed as to be completely meaningless
25
Q

why did Hume reject the use of an analogy of the design of an object to prove the idea of an intelligent designer of the world

A
  • he argued if the world were sufficiently like a known product of human design we should be entitled to conclude the world is a result of purposive activity
  • however humans only have experience of things they design and create
  • limited experience not sufficient to come to similar conclusions about the creation and design of the world
  • we can conclude a house has a builder/architect but we can’t deduce one of the universe as there is no real similarity between the two
  • nothing within the universe to which the universe can be satisfactorily compared to and therefore any argument by analogy is weak because it relies on an experience we don’t have
  • no sufficient knowledge to conclude
26
Q

why does Hume propose the universe could merely have the appearance of design

A
  • certain birds, animals and vegetation seemed to be pre-designed to work together
  • Hume argued for this too be true you would have to prove this order could not have come about any other way except divine intervention
  • Hume argues other possible explanations
  • appearance of design
  • reality is a random process of selection which has created different forms of life
  • his proposal later developed within Darwin’s theory f evolution
27
Q

What is Hume’s analogy of the ship criticism

A
  • even if the teleological argument supports the idea of intelligent design not necessarily lead us to conclude its a God in a theistic Judaeo-Christian sense
  • we may look at a ship and think wow what a great design
  • actually might be result of years of trial error
  • ship may be product of many hands not just one great design
28
Q

how does Hume criticise the nature of God

A
  • one thing to propose God as designer, another to claim this God is the loving wise and just being presented in scripture
  • Hume argues design of the universe is flawed
  • how can a perfect being design such an imperfect world riddles with natural disasters, disabilities and disease
  • God of the design argument is seriously deficient in power, wisdom or goodness
29
Q

what was the indirect criticism of Charles Darwin

A
  • evolution and natural selection provides an alternative explanation for the appearance of design in the living things which doesn’t need the help of an external creator
  • provides a way to explain how Paley’s examples of regularity and order in the world like the eye can exist without referring to an designer
30
Q

why is the process of evolution and natural selection so damaging to the design argument

A

it has mass scientific validation world wide

Philosophy And Ethics (16 decks)

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