Teleological

• Keywords

  • a posteriori - knowledge dependent on experience
  • inductive - draws a general conclusion
  • teleological - arguing to prove that everything has a purpose
• Design argument

  • anything that has been designed needs a designer
  • only possible designer is God
  • the appearance of design in the world proves that God exists
  • deductive argument
• Aquinas' 5 ways

  1. motion
  2. causation
  3. a necessary being
  4. argument from morality
  5. argument from design
• Aquinas' 5th way - argument from design

  • the world is contingent, cannot be self-causing
  • first necessary cause and mover can explain the universe's existence
  • proves the existence of God a posteriori
  • teleological argument
  • universe is an intelligent design, must have a designer (God is creator)
• Design qua purpose

  the universe was designed to fulfil a purpose
• Design qua regularity

  • the universe behaves according to order
  • gravity did not just happen, must be a designing principle (God)
• Watch Analogy

  • impossible to exist without a watch maker, it has to be thought about
  • impossible to suppose the universe came about without a creator, must be God
• Cons of the watch analogy

  does not prove God's existence because:

  • no designer would create natural disasters
  • science can explain creation, without God
  • proves a designer, not a God
• Paley

  design qua purpose and design qua regularity
• Hume

  • 1st argument - design implies great designer, God
  • 2nd argument - natural selection and possible way that the world came by chance
• Mill

  nature goes unpunished, not a result of human agency

  either no God, or an immoral God
• Darwin - Evolution theory

  • design is the result of random process
  • natural selection gave the appearance of design
• Dawkins

  • supports Darwin
  • random mutations in DNA alone gave rise to world variation
• Kant

  we weren’t around for the creation of the world so how do we know it had a cause
• cons

  does not prove God exists because:

  • no designer would create natural disasters
  • science can explain creation, without God
  • proves a designer, not a God
• Tennant

  • the universe was designed explicitly for the purpose of supporting human life
  • weak anthropic principle - if the world was slightly different, human life would not exist
  • ’there must be a designer because the universe perfectly fits the development of life’