Arguments from observation

• Thomas Aquinas lived in Sicily in the 13th century.

  He published his 5 'ways' in Summa Theologica. The first 4 are cosmological and the 5th is teleological
• William Paley was a philosopher in the 18th and 19th centuries.

  His teleological argument is published in 'Natural Theology.'

  His argument is split into two - 'design qua purpose' and 'design qua regularity.'
• Design qua purpose argues that the natural world is designed for a purpose, just as a watch is. Seeing the intricate design of a watch, we would assume that there is a watchmaker. So, seeing the intricate design pf the world, we should assume that it, too, has a maker.
• Design qua regularity argues that the consistency and predictability of the world is proof for a designer. For example, gravity and the solar system have a consistent pattern.
• Paley discuses the 'design flaws' criticism. Design flaws include things such as natural disasters and the fact that some animals are extinct. He argues that poor design quality does not detract from the fact that things were designed with a purpose.
• Aquinas' fifth way argues that non-thinking being act in a way which serves a specific purpose. For example, the heart pumping blood, or a flower facing the sun. Since these things are unthinking, they must be guided by a thinking being, as an arrow is guided by an archer.
• Fredrick Tennant was a British philosopher, and member of the Church of England. He worked in the 19th and 20th centuries.

  Anthropic argument - States that God must exist due to the quality of evolution, the development of intelligent human life, and the design of the universe to help life grow and develop.

  Aesthetic argument - Human abilities to enjoy beauty and art are not needed for survival. These exist to develop our virtues, so God must exist
• Richard Swinburne is an English philosopher and theologian who is a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

  He asserts that God is metaphysically necessary. In 'The Coherence of Theism', he argues that science cannot explain why the universe has laws, because scientific discovery presupposes the laws of nature.
• Hume's criticisms of the teleological argument can be found in 'Dialogues concerning natural religion.' Hume was an 18th century skeptic
• Hume argues that using analogies can lead to mistakes. The cosmos is more comparable to a living thing than a human artefact. Due to design flaws, the teleological argument does not prove the existence of an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient God.
• Hume says that Paley makes a fallacy of composition - just because parts of the world have design, does not mean the whole universe has design.

  Furthermore, if God designed human intelligence, this means God must have human-like intelligence, so God must have a designer.
• Hume also uses the Epicurean hypothesis to explain the existence of apparent design.

  In an infinite amount of time, a finite amount of particles will eventually form order.
• Charles Darwin was a 19th century biologist, who proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection.

  Animals who are better adapted to their environment are more likely to mate successfully and pass on their genes. Their is no need for a designer - natural selection is a random process

  This was published in 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859.
• Aquinas' first way is the argument from motion.

  This builds on Aristotle's idea of motus and things changing to and from actuality and potentiality.

  If every object in motion needs a mover, this would lead to infinite regress - which Aquinas thinks is impossible.

  There must be a first unmoved mover - God
• Aquinas' second way is the argument from cause.

  This is taken from Aristotle's efficient cause, which causes something to come into being.

  As nothing causes itself, this creates infinite regress.

  So, there must be an uncaused causer.
• Aquinas' third way is the argument from contingency.

  Given that everything is contingent, it is possible that there was a time when nothing existed.

  However, this is impossible, because something cannot come from nothing.

  There must be a necessary being which brought everything else into existance.
• Aquinas' fourth way is the argument from gradation.

  This was adapted from Plato's theory of forms.

  When we grade things as good or bad, big or small, hot or cold, we compare them against a metric.

  This implies that there must be a hottest, biggest, best, etc.

  There must be a perfect being - God.
• The Kalam cosmological argument originates from Aristotle's prime mover, and was adapted into Islamic medieval tradition in the Islamic golden age (8th-13th century.)

  The argument highlights the logical impossibility of actual infinity. It is usually presented as a syllogism.

  P1 - Everything that exists began and had a cause.

  P2 - The universe began to exist

  C - The universe has a cause
• William Lane Craig is an American analytic philosopher.

  He supports P2 of the Kalam cosmological argument with the second law of thermodynamics - a system's entropy cannot decrease, so the universe tends towards randomness.
• Hume criticises the cosmological argument.

  He argues that we cannot apply what we know about cause and effect from Earth outside of Earth. So, in using the cosmological argument, we are making an inductive assumption.

  He also says assuming the whole universe must have a cause is a fallacy of composition.

  Other criticisms include that if God can cause itself, why can't the universe? and the fact that the cosmological argument could just as easily prove deism or polytheism.
• Bertrand Russel was a British philosopher and logician.

  Russel's teapot is a hypothetical argument against the existence of God. Not being able to disprove X gives us no reason to believe X. X must first be verified. For example, you would not believe that an invisible teapot is orbiting Earth, just because you can't disprove it.

  However, it could be said that he is making a burden of proof fallacy, as a belief in the universe coming from nothing should be verified, as this seems more improbable than it coming from something.