Teleological argument

Teleological argument

1. Philosophers

   • Strengths
     • Kant (1724-1804)
     • Swinburne (1934)
     • Hawkins (1942)
   • Aquinas (1225-1274)
   • Paley (1743-1803)
   • Tennent (1886-1957)
     • Aesthetic argument - The beauty of the world is proof of intelligent design
       • Used as a response to Darwin's explanation of design through chance
       • Beauty exists in the world
         • Beauty therefore requires a desinger
           • This designer is God
       • "Beauty is the lost thought of theology (David Fod)
   • Criticisms
     • Hume (1711-1776)
     • Mill (1806-1873)
     • Darwin (1809-1873)
     • Dawkins (1941)

2. Background

   • God of classical theism... Omni's
   • Comes from the Greek word "telos" meaning 'end' or 'purpose'
   • "The oldest, the clearest and most accordant with the common reason of mankind"
   • Complexity, regularity and evidence of purpose point towards a desinger

3. Key features

   • a posteriori
   • Based on empirical evidence
   • Inductive
   • An example of 'natural theology' (using reason and the world around us to establish the existence of God

4. Basic argument

   • Such design implies a designer
   • The designer of the world is God
   • The world has order, purpose, benefit, regularity and suitable for life
     • This shows evidence of design

5. Thomas Aquinas

   • 5th of five ways
   • Analogy of the archer and the arrow
   • Based on Aristotles understanding of biological process
   • "whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence... this being God"

6. William paley

   • The watch analogy
   • The human eye
   • used reason to defend God (Christian apologist)
   • Order, complexity, regularity and interaction shown in the watch cannot come down to chance

7. F.R.Tennet/R.Swinburne

   • The world contains human beings
   • "Nature is meaningless and valueless without God behind it and man in front"
   • Used as a response to the theory of evolution by Darwin
   • The world was designed to support life
   • Such conditions cannot be rationally attributed to chance
   • These conditions must have been designed
   • the designer was God

8. General comments

   • General criticisms
     • Inductive arguments can never establish proof; they can only establish probability
     • The argument rests upon an inductive gap
     • The existence of God is not an empirical hypothesis it is not provable
   • General Strengths
     • The design argument, an inductive argument, follows strict philosophical logic (premise, premise, conclusion)
     • The argument is cumulative - the more we inspect nature, the more we see evidence of complexity
     • The argument, which is an example of natural theology based upon reason, compliments the claims made within revealed theology. (The book of Genesis)
   • Further strengths
     • The argument compliments the notion of the God of classical theism
     • Provides an answer to one of life's most searching existential questions, "why/how are we here?"
     • Combines strength of scientific knowledge with explanatory theory