Teleological argument

• The cosmos (universe), including the earth, is inherently complex. Its complexity is shown in its order and design. From this, it concludes that they can only be explained by a designer God. E.g. DNA or planets orbits.
• Thomas Aquinas was first to develop the teleological argument in his Summa Theologicae. It was his fifth way that argues God’s existence from design using a posteriori, inductive and synthetic reasoning... 
• “Some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed... this being we call God”  - Aquinas  
• Keith Ward rejected the idea that every event in the natural world has a purpose in the first place. Inanimate objects are simply obeying the laws of nature.

  Aquinas would respond that God developed the laws of nature. 
• William Paley (1743 – 1805) was an English philosopher and clergyman. He was fascinated by discoveries being made about the natural world in his time. He created the watchmaker analogy to demonstrate his argument: The watch implies a watchmaker and so too the universe implies a designer. 
• FIFTH WAY: Argument from design

  P1: Nature seems to have an order and purpose to it. 

  P2: Nothing inanimate is purposeful without a ‘guiding hand’ (Aquinas gives the example here of an archer shooting an arrow at a target). 

  P3: Therefore, everything in nature which is moving but has no intelligence must be directed to its goal by a divine intelligence. 

  C: That being is ‘God’. 
• Forms of the teleological argument: Brown TAPS
• Arthur Brown, in his book Footprints of God, developed the argument from astronomy. He said the ozone layer’s purpose to filter out the UV rays and protect life could not have happened by chance. It is mighty proof of the creator’s forethought. 
• F.R Tennant developed the anthropic principle. The argument claims that the cosmos is constructed for the development of intelligent life. Any small change would mean that life would not have been able to evolve therefore it must have been designed. 
• F.R Tennant also developed the Aesthetic principle that we humans can appreciate the beauty of our surroundings (art, literature and music) but this is not necessary for our survival and therefore evidence for a divine designer. It also cannot be the result of natural selection. 
• Richard Swinburne, a Chrisitan theologian who attempt to defend the existence of God, developed the Probabilities. It says the universe is law-governed and ordered therefore it is likely for a designer to have created it rather than the complexity to have occurred by chance. This could also be seen as Occam's razor which is the theory that the simplest answer is usually right.  
• Criticisms of the teleological argument: Horrid Design Mad Designer
• Hume 

  • It is equally possible that the world created itself as a God creating the universe. 
  • The universe could be made from a team of Gods over time. He uses the analogy of the ship to explain his ideas. 
• Hume

  • Fallacy of composition - cannot compare things within the universe to the universe itself so rejects. 
  • Swinburne says just because the universe is unique does not mean that we cannot look at the parts within the universe. E.g. we can see the world is ordered therefore we can deduce there must be a designer.  
• Hume  

  • At the beginning of the universe, everything was disordered but over time, it became ordered. 
  • Epicurean Hypothesis – criticizes the inductive nature. 
• “Matter may contain the spring of order within itself” - Hume 
• Darwin 

  • Created the theory of evolution and natural selection 
  • The world created itself  
  • God designed evolution  
• John Stuart Mill 

  • Nature is not ‘punished’ for its crimes against humanity  
  • Nature commits atrocities by killing innocent animals through famines and draughts but is not held accountable for such crimes like humans are. 
  • This counts against the belief that the world is ordered and therefore designed. 
  • For nature to be guilty of a crime, it must have intended to cause harm and misery.   
• “Nearly all the things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another are nature’s everyday performances” - Mill 
• Mill

  • Problem of evil 
  • Mill believes the problem of evil proves that the Creator desires misery. 
  • So, the world is not ordered by an intelligent and benevolent designer. 
  • Paley never said that the watch had to be a perfectly good watch. We see killing as morally wrong, but it is perfectly fine in nature for survival in the animal kingdom so it could just be a part of God’s plan. 
  • World was created perfectly but it is made bad by humanity's sin in the ‘Fall’ 
• “If the maker of the world can do all that he wills, he wills misery” - Mill 
• Dawkins 

  • Wrote ‘The Blind Watchmaker’