The Teleological Argument Summary

The Teleological Argument Summary

1. The Teleological Argument

   • Thomas Aquinas
     • Way 5 is a design argument
       • Aquinas argued that everything in the natural work is directed to some goal, & follows natural laws set up by something which thinks (i.e. God)
       • Regularity of succession argument- Aquinas' archer example
       • Aquinas was influenced by Aristotle's theory of 4 Causes; links Final Cause to God
     • Weaknesses in his argument
       • Does everything follow a general law set down by a designer
       • Anthony Flew suggests that Aquinas' claim that things in nature are directed to some purpose goes against the available evidence
       • Swinburne claims that Aquinas assumes what is at issue- whether God imposes regularity & laws on the universe
   • William Paley
     • Presents a purpose argument
       • Compares a rock and a watch:
         • The watch demonstrates fitness for a purpose; parts work together/ fit for a purpose/ the parts are ordered
         • Part 2 of arg: imagination function of the watch= producing other watches
           • Watch like this suggests the existence of something conscious and intelligent
       • Argues by analogy that nature requires a much greater designer than the watch
         • The complexity of nature is illustrated by the human eye

2. Challenges to Design Arguments

   • J. S. Mill
     • Questioned the goodness of nature given the apparent cruelty to be found within nature (e.g. the behaviour of a digger wasp)
   • David Hume
     • Nothing to which a universe can be satisfactorily compared
       • Paley- lack of knowledge increases our sense of wonder
       • Swinburne- reasonable to say more about the cause of the event other than just it causes the event
     • Analogy of the house builder and an architect; challenges about the design's quality (the problem of evil)
       • Paley- rejects this; considered the issue to be whether the universe exhibited signs of designs
     • Other possible explanations than God for apparent design in the universe (e.g. DNA today)
     • Is there evidence the world has a single designer? (The analogy of a great ship)
     • Random activity can lead to orderliness rather than disorder (supported by the discovery of natural selection)

3. Natural Selection

   • Darwin's discovery was influenced by:
     • Discoveries during the voyage of the Beagle
     • Sir Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology
     • Thomas Malthus' idea that food supplies increase arithmetically and populations grow exponentially
   • Natural selection can explain the emergence of complex living organisms without any need to refer to design, a designer, or purpose