RE - teleological

• Teleological - st.thomas aquinas


  Aquinas’ 5th way of proving gods existence was by using the teleological argument.

  5th way - the concept of governance

  Bodies fulfill their function due to design. Inanimate objects dont have a goal/purpose unless guided by something that thinks.

  e.g archer and arrow example
• Teleological-william paley


  Understand nature of god by looking at his creation= world. William Paleys analogy of a complex design - stone and watch on heath. watch- purpose of telling the time, if cogs didnt work this way it would have a different purpose. Like watch shows purpose + design so does the world.

  Designer= god
• teleolgical- order/ regularity


  Order implies regularity and things working in a methodical and constant way . order- result of concious work of a designer being= god

  Couldnt happen by chance, must've been designed.
• teleological- purpose


  Universe works the way it does for a particular purpose. Example- human teeth. Nature doesnt permit teeth to grow till baby has finished its dependence on its mothers milk and needs food.

  'eye alone is proof of god's designing power'
• Modern teleological- anthropic principle- tennant

  Chance of stable universe from big bang = 10 power of 60= very unlikely. Fortunatly, live in stable universe. Chances of big bang creating stable universe- almost impossible. He thought creation of universe must've been aided by an ordering power= god. Believes big bang is an explination of how god designed the universe into existance.
• teleological- aesthetic principle- tennant


  Humans posses ability to appreciate the beauty of their surroundings - not a survival instinct. Darwin states humans developed- ' survival of the fittest'. ' Beauty seems to be pointless and has little survival value' . Tennant argues this must have been designed in humanity from another source.
• teleological- evaluation of anthropic + aesthetic 


  Both take into account big bang + theory of evolution

  accepts both theories

  BBT+TOE= god's design
• teleological- criticism 1

  PROBLEMS WITH ANALOGIES- HUMES

  Criticizes use of human based analogies to demonstrate- universe is designed. Example- HOuse- just because this is complex + needs a designer, doesnt mean we can infer the complex universe also needs a designer. House + universe= too different, to draw similarities. Humes- any teloelogical argument that compares human construction with universe= wrong as your not comparing like with like.
• teleological- criticism 2

  IS THE UNIVERSE DESIGNED ?- HUMES

  teleological- depends on assumption that theres design in the universe. Universe may be in chaos= if correct, no need for designer. Universe- nothing more than random configuration of atoms. Universe may appear designed but is a result of random atom movement + wont stay like this.
• teleological- criticism 3

  MORE THAN 1 GOD CRITICISM- HUMES

  If using human analogies to prove teleological, then more usual manufactured goods to be designed/made by many people, not just one. E.G ship- many hands to build a ship. so many gods may have made the universe not just one
• Criticism 4 - Absent Designer - Humes 


  After ship has been completed, designer moves onto to another project. If using ship analogy we must assume the same. Once the designer god created the universe - moved on to build other universes elsewhere