The Teleological Argument

Question 1

Aquinas’ Inductive Argument / Fifth Way

Answer 1

• observe beneficial order in the universe
• this could not happen by chance ‘not fortuitously, but designedly’
• objects do not have the intelligence to work towards a purpose or end
• ‘some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end’
• ‘and this being we call God’

Question 2

The Inductive Leap

Answer 2

the seemingly large stretch between Aquinas stating the need for an intelligent designer, and then identifying this designer as God

Question 3

Design Qua Regularity

Answer 3

the order and consistency observable in the universe (eg Newtonian physics) is evidence of a designer

Question 4

Design Qua Purpose

Answer 4

the universe and everything in it seem to fulfil a purpose - this is evidence of a designer

Question 5

Summa Theologica

Answer 5

text in which Aquinas outlines his ‘Five Ways’ aiming to show faith can be founded in reason

Question 6

The ‘prime mover’

Answer 6

Aristotle’s idea that whatever caused the universe to enter a state of motion is in a state of unchanging actuality. Used as the foundation of Aquinas’ Inductive Argument

Question 7

Paley’s Analogical Argument overview

Answer 7

• if you see a rock on a heath, you would likely assume it has always been there in that state due to its simplicity
• if you were to see a watch, even if you had never come across one before, you would assume it had an intelligent maker due to its complexity
• the universe too is intricate and complex, so implies an intelligent designer
• ‘the marks of design are too strong. design must have a designer. that designer is God.’

Question 8

Paley’s criteria for a complex item

Answer 8

• specific materials
• several parts
• works to a purpose or end
• regular motion
• indispensable parts

Question 9

the crux of Paley’s Analogical Argument

Answer 9

‘like effects have like causes’

Question 10

the type of argument Paley’s Analogical Argument is

Answer 10

inductive; a posteriori; argument by analogy

Question 11

argument by analogy

Answer 11

inductive argument which likens familiar situation to less similar situation and suggests that to maintain consistency, the same conclusions must be drawn about them

Question 12

telos

Answer 12

Greek term meaning purpose/aim/end

According to Aristotle: the ‘final cause’ required for something to exist, and the goal it naturally tends towards

Question 13

teleology

Answer 13

account of a given thing’s purpose as an explanation of the cause of the thing

Question 14

inductive reasoning / arguments

Answer 14

cannot prove, but try to persuade by providing evidence from human experience in support of the conclusion

Question 15

a posteriori

Answer 15

knowledge gained by logical deductions made from observation and experience of the material world

Question 16

Natural Theology

Answer 16

the text in which Paley gives his analogical argument as a Christian apologist in attempts to prove faith can be grounded in reason

Question 17

strengths of inductive thinking

Answer 17

• relies on experience that may be universal or at least testable
• relies on accepting the nature of evidence
• demands overwhelmingly good reasons for accepting the conclusion is the most likely

Question 18

weaknesses of inductive thinking

Answer 18

• alternative conclusions may be just as convincing
• can only say if certain phenomena are the case we may be able to make certain claims about them
• often more than one possible conclusion

Question 19

general weaknesses of Paley’s analogical argument

Answer 19

• appears to be assuming order in the universe simply because there is order in a watch
• unclear if the watch is analogous to the world or whole universe
• is the world not too different to the watch to withstand comparison

Question 20

revealed theology

Answer 20

we can see god exists and gives order to the world through revelations given from god to humans

Question 21

Paley’s response to evidence of bad design

Answer 21

watches often go wrong, this does not mean they were not designed. it may simply be we do not understand the full workings of the world and less competent then the designer

Question 22

Cleanthes

Answer 22

character in Hume’s ‘Dialogues’ who using natural theology argues from the world to God, stating there are parallels between design present in the world, and design of the world, and like effects have like causes

Question 23

Demea

Answer 23

Character in Hume’s ‘Dialogues’ who comes from a position of faith

Question 24

Philo

Answer 24

character in Hume’s ‘Dialogues’ who acts as a spokesperson for Hume’s own views. Comments on how the universe may well have come about through chance, and that even if there are the grounds to assume the universe was designed, there are not the grounds to make claims about the character or nature of the designer

Question 25

Paley’s analogical argument assumptions

Answer 25

• assumes analogy is appropriate
• assumes effects are predictable
• assumes existence of god from evidence of design

Question 26

the effectiveness of analogy

Answer 26

can only say with certainty the conclusion of the observed situation. any slight change from the original situation may yield different conclusions. the more the conditions change, the lesser the confidence in induction

Question 27

Hume’s limitation of the design argument

Answer 27

the argument may be able to ‘assert the universe arose sometime, from something like design: but beyond that position he cannot ascertain one single circumstances’

Question 28

Hume on the nature of a universal designer

Answer 28

cannot confidently make any claims - for all we know we could be ‘the first rude essay of some infant deity’, or many deities cooperating together

Question 29

Paley’s view on goodness of the designer

Answer 29

would only be unjustified in attributing goodness to the designer if the world were an unbearable place, and ‘it is a happy world after all’

Question 30

Paley’s view on the amounts of suffering vs goodness

Answer 30

‘happiness is the rule; misery is the exception’ eg we are shocked when we hear a friend is ill, but are not when we hear they are experiencing happiness

Question 31

Schopenhauer’s view on misery vs happiness

Answer 31

misery outweighs happiness. ‘compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the other’ ‘we generally find pleasure not so pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful’

Question 32

Paley v Hume view of nature

Answer 32

sees the design and creation of a benevolent God vs sees ‘nothing but the idea of a blind nature’

Question 33

Paley: attributing omnipotence to a designer

Answer 33

perfectly reasonable - a being capable of creating this universe much have power infinitely beyond power we have experience of, and infinite power equates to omnipotence

Question 34

Ockham’s Razor

Answer 34

the principle that the simplest hypothesis is generally preferable

Question 35

infinite regress

Answer 35

Hume’s argument that if human-like intelligence appears designed and humans have a designer, then so must the designer of humans and so forth

Question 36

analogical argument premises

Answer 36

1 - there exists an object in nature (n) resembling a manmade artifact (m) in a significant way (R)
2 - m has R because it was created deliberately by human design
3 - similar effects have similar causes
conclusion: probably that n has R because was designed by something with human-like intelligence

Question 37

Hume objection to analogical argument premise 1

Answer 37

universe more similar to a living thing than an artifact. nature is alive and self sustaining, an artifact is not

Question 38

Hume objection to analogical argument premise 3

Answer 38

there are other ways to explain away design. the universe may be a product of chance - if matter is eternal then there may be enough possible worlds that all possibilities are realised

Question 39

3 dangers of anthropomorphism

Answer 39

• removes divine distinctiveness
• emphasises limitedness, changeability, fallibility
• implies god is then non-moral, limited, fallible

Question 40

Swinburne: regularities of co-presence

Answer 40

spatial order - the observable tendency for things to be arranged in ordered ways eg a town with roads all at right angles to each other

Question 41

Swinburne: regularities of succession

Answer 41

temporal order - simple patterns of behaviour of objects over a time period - eg behaviour in accordance to Newton’s laws

Question 42

18th century spatial argument

Answer 42

animals are similar to machines made by rational agents. it therefore seems probable that the first animals were made by a rational agent since couldnt have come to be via generation

Question 43

adaptations to spatial argument since theory of evolution

Answer 43

since evolution is only able to occur due to presence of specific laws within nature, nature itself can be compared to a machine which makes machines. rational agent -> machine-making machine (nature) -> machine

Question 44

Swinburne: ineffectiveness of spatial argument

Answer 44

analogy between nature and ‘machine-making machine’ is weak - nature only behaves in this way under rare circumstances. can be argued we only see order in the universe since we try to impose it and coincidence has thus far allowed it

Question 45

Swinburne: temporal argument

Answer 45

• temporal order continues despite varying initial conditions and interference from humans, therefore is independent of man and a genuine part of the nature of the universe

Question 46

meaning of Swinburne’s card-shuffling analogy

Answer 46

of course we see order in need of explanation since without that order we probably wouldnt exist. however this doesnt mean the order is not extraordinary or not in need of explanation: the presence of order is not remarkable because we perceive it, but simply because of its objective existence at all

Question 47

the anthropic principle

Answer 47

moderns design argument that accepts scientific theories including the big bang and evolution. focuses on the idea that chance alone is exceedingly unlikely to have produced conditions required of the universe for evolution of human life

Question 48

Swinburne: the anthropic principle and science

Answer 48

argues that the success of science in showing us how deeply ordered the natural world is provides strong grounds for believing there is a deeper cause for that order

Question 49

the strong anthropic principle

Answer 49

claims the entire universe was designed to produce human life. arguments often include physics / astronomy eg the goldilocks zone, ozone, gas giants

Question 50

tennant: the strong anthropic principle

Answer 50

states as we identify all the physics that has worked together for our benefit ‘it seems as if the universe must in some sense have known we were coming’

Question 51

strong anthropic principle criticism: anthropocentric attitudes

Answer 51

• assumes the laws of the universe are as they are because of human existence when surely it is actually that we are as we are since we evolved within the conditions of the universe - confuses cause and effect to favour humans

Question 52

strong anthropic principle criticism: Adams’ intelligent puddle analogy

Answer 52

compares believing the inverse was made for humans to an intelligent puddle considering how perfectly it fits the hole it is in and hence incorrectly concluding the hole must have been made for the purpose of the puddle filling it

Question 53

strong anthropic principle criticism: chaos not order

Answer 53

science suggest entire universe not determined by conditions at Big Bang since too many random / chaotic factors at work

Question 54

the aesthetic principle

Answer 54

beauty is present and we perceive it. there is no reason for the universe to be beautiful and no evolutionary need for humans to be capable of appreciating it. this suggests a designer who arranged for universe to not only be habitable but beautiful

Question 55

Augustine of Hippo: the aesthetic principle

Answer 55

‘who made these beautiful changeable things, if not one who is beautiful and unchangeable’

Question 56

criticisms of aesthetic principle: cause and effect

Answer 56

confuses causes with effects - we probably find universe beautiful because it is what we evolved around. if it looked different we would find that beautiful instead

Question 57

criticisms of anthropic principle: Richard Dawkins

Answer 57

Beethoven and Shakespeare’s works are sublime, and would be with or without the presence of God. They do not prove the existence of God, they prove the existence of Beethoven and Shakespeare

Question 58

the weak anthropic principle

Answer 58

accepts creatures like us may have evolved on other planets. holds the universe is set up to form planets, some of which will support life. once life appears, evolution will ensure some of it becomes intelligent and self aware

Question 59

Argument from Fine-Tuning

Answer 59

surprising the universe is biophilic due to the amount of factors which if slightly different would not support life. the universe is like a radio that must be tuned to a specific frequency to ‘pick up’ life

Question 60

fine tuning argument: Leslie’s firing-squad analogy

Answer 60

• you are to be executed by a firing squad of 100
• you hear the sound of guns, then silence, they missed
• if they had not missed, you would not be able to reflect on the failed execution
• you are right to be amazed they all missed

Question 61

argument against designer: minimally biophilic universe

Answer 61

most of the universe is inhospitable. surely designer would create an optimally biophilic universe

Question 62

Bertrand Russel: against the fine tuning argument

Answer 62

universe is ‘brute fact’ we should accept it how it is without looking for reasons

Question 63

Dawkins’ criticism of Paley’s argument

Answer 63

evolution has no long term goal. the criteria for natural selection is based on short term reproductive benefit

Question 64

Dawkins’ ‘The Selfish Gene’

Answer 64

‘we are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes’

Question 65

Dawkins’ on DNA

Answer 65

compares DNA to seeds in the air, literally spreading instructions for making themselves. ‘It is raining DNA outside … it’s raining programmes’

Question 66

Peter Williams on limits of Darwinian evolution

Answer 66

while evidence strongly supports Darwinism from the starting point of simple molecular biochemical machines, it has not proposed a route for these systems to form in the first place

Question 67

problem with Fine Tuning Argument: improbability does not mean impossibility

Answer 67

• assumption that there must be a designer due to the improbability of the universe occurring by chance is entirely intuitive and hence unsound

Question 68

George Schlesinger’s Argument From Suspicious Improbabilities

Answer 68

• if John wins an improbable lottery game, you would not assume that he, or someone on his behalf, cheated
• if John won the lottery game 3 consecutive times you would immediately be tempted to assume cheating as this event is ‘of a kind that is surprising in a way that warrants interference of design’
• that the universe is fine tunes for life is improbable in the same way John winning the lottery multiple times is
• if we are justified in inferring intelligent design in John’s lottery winnings, we are even more so in the case of the universe

Question 69

weakness of argument from suspicious improbabilities: empirical background facts

Answer 69

in the case of John and the lottery:
- already know intelligent agents with capacity to manipulate results exist
- know from past event such situations are usually explained by deliberate agency of such agents

in case of the universe we do not know these

Question 70

weakness of argument from suspicious improbabilities: lack of knowledge of the universe

Answer 70

• cannot prove life would not have arisen in different universe conditions
• physics speculates we are one universe in a ‘multiverse’ where all possible material universes are eventually realised (if this is the case, at least one had to have life, so does not warrant design that it is this one)