Philosophers 'For'

1. Aquinas C13
1. Influenced by Socrates, Plato & Aristotle
2. Book = 'Summa Theologica'
3. Presented 5 ways for God's existence
  1. 5th being called 'From the Governace of things'
4. World is ordered & works towards an end purpose
5. Used natural theology to present his ideas
  1. Design Qua Purpose
    1. The world has purpose to help sustain human life
      1. E.g. ozone layer
  2. Design Qua Regularity
    1. World works in regular intervals for mans benefit
      1. E.g. changing of the seasons
2. William Paley C18
1. Book = 'Natural Theology'
2. Used the concept of the pocket watch
3. Skilfully designed therefore cannot be here by pure chance
4. Individual components are useless, however when they are together they work perfectly
  1. Paley applies this concept to the universe
5. However Paley notices that the world is not perfect
  1. Gave the example of evil and suffering
3. Tennent & Taylor C20
1. Tennent postulated & Taylor developed
2. Aesthetic principle
  1. The world is more than ordered, it possesses a natural beauty which we can appreciate through music, art & literature
  2. "Beauty seems to be superfluous and have little survival value"
3. Anthropic principle
  1. 'Anthro' means man, the world was created for the benefit of mankind and so that we have the potential to evolve
4. Swinburne
1. Occams Razor
  1. States that the simplest explanations are often the best
2. The world has perfect ability to support human life
  1. 'Amazing world'
3. God is omnibenelovent therefore there is a degree of probability
  1. This is portrayed in the parable of the card shuffler
4. "The dice was loaded"

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Philosophers 'For'

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	Created by lj.willis about 10 years ago