Teleological Argument

• Teleological argument


  Argument that infers the existence of God from the presence of order, regularity and purpose in the world
• The teleological argument is probably the most popular argument for God's existence and is one of the arguments most often expressed by people
• Teleological


  Derived from the Greek word teleos meaning 'end' or 'purpose'
• A posteriori


  Philosophical term for an argument in which a conclusion is reached based on evidence that has been observed
• A priori


  Philosophical term for an argument which starts from a set of principles (called premises) and deduces conclusions from these principles
• Criticising an a priori argument


  1. Challenge the validity of the starting principles

  2. Challenge the coherence of the argument

  3. Challenge the appropriateness of the assumptions
• Two types of teleological argument

  • Arguments based on purpose (e.g. William Paley's ideas)
  • Arguments based on regularity (e.g. Thomas Aquinas' ideas)
• Thomas Aquinas' teleological argument


  • Based on the idea that non-intelligent material things produce beneficial order, and therefore require an intelligent being to bring this about (God)
  • Influenced by Aristotle's theory of the Four Causes, linking Aristotle's idea of a Final Cause to God
• Thomas Aquinas' teleological argument

  1. Looking at the natural world, it is clear that everything follows natural laws, even if not conscious

  2. Things that follow natural laws have a goal or purpose

  3. If something cannot think for itself, it will only have this goal or purpose if an intelligent being gives it this purpose

  4. Aquinas concluded: Everything in the natural world that is not an intelligent being heads towards its goal or purpose because it is directed by an intelligent being (God)
• Aquinas' argument by regularity

  Based on the fact that nature follows specific laws that lead to specific results, like the law of gravity
• Aquinas' argument by regularity

  1. An arrow hits a target even though it is not intelligent (effect)

  2. The archer (intelligent being) shot the arrow (cause)

  3. Everything in nature follows natural laws even if not intelligent (effect)

  4. An intelligent being (God) caused the natural world to behave this way (cause)
• Aquinas made certain assumptions but did not use evidence to support them, such as assuming everything has a purpose
• It may be that the world is just the way it is by chance and does not need an intelligent designer
• Swinburne suggested Aquinas' argument is mistaken as it assumes what is at issue - whether God imposes regularity and laws on the universe
• David Hume's criticism of the teleological argument

  • Presented the argument for design fairly, but then criticised it through the character of Philo
  • Hume's real view was that the criticism of the argument was devastating
• Hume used the analogy of the world being like a house or watch, therefore it is probably produced by something like a human designer
• William Paley's teleological argument

  • Fascinated by discoveries about the natural world, particularly the complexity and sophistication of organs like the human eye
  • Argued that the natural world resembles human-made machines, therefore it must have an intelligent designer (God)
• William Paley was Archdeacon of Carlisle
• Paley was fascinated by discoveries being made about the natural world in his time, particularly the increase in knowledge of the complex organs and systems in the bodies of people and animals
• Paley was famously impressed by the structure of the human eye: its sophistication, complexity, its fitness for seeing and so forth
• Paley's book Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, was published in 1802
• Hume's Dialogues was actually published in 1779, after Hume had died
• Paley wrote his book Natural Theology in 1802 and, though he never refers to Hume, it is thought that he included an attempt at answering the criticisms that Hume had made of the design argument
• William Paley's teleological argument


  It tries to establish that there is order and purpose in the universe, and then makes the step to the conclusion that there is something divine behind this order and purpose
• Paley's teleological argument


  1. Analogy to express the argument

  2. Based on the argument that similar effects imply similar causes

  3. Evidence of design are features where natural objects are similar to manmade machines

  4. Three kinds of these features impressed eighteenth-century thinkers: the world as a whole, the bodies of plants and animals, and the providential arrangement of things on the Earth
• Man-made objects which impressed people at that time

  • Pocket watch
• Paley's most famous argument compares a rock and a watch
• Part 1 of Paley's watch analogy (design qua purpose)


  A rock would not inspire anyone to wonder how it came to be there, however, if someone found a watch they could examine it and see that: (a) The watch was made for a purpose: telling the time (b) The parts work together or are fit for a purpose (c) The parts are ordered and put together in a certain way to make the watch work (d) If the parts were arranged in a different way the watch would not work
• Part 2 of Paley's watch analogy

  Imagine the watch had another purpose: that of producing other watches. This would increase the admiration for the watchmaker, as it implies the presence of intelligence and mind
• Paley also used evidence from astronomy and Newton's laws of motion and gravity to show that there was design in the universe
• Paley's analogy is all about a machine: a watch, and he presumed that the universe is also like a machine
• Paley implied that he was more concerned with making things clearer to those who believe in God already, rather than trying to prove God to unbelievers
• The Argument from Design

  It consists of two steps: (1) Showing that the world exhibits 'apparent design' (2) The inference from this apparent design, by analogy, is of an intelligent cause
• The Argument to Design

  Also referred to as the Anthropic Argument or the argument from providence or the argument from beauty. It argues that nature seems to plan in advance for the needs of animals and humans, which cannot be accounted for by physical laws alone
• Some modern proponents have argued that modern developments in science, rather than disproving the teleological argument, have led some to support it more strongly
• It is by no means clear in the analogy whether the machine, etc. is being compared to the whole of the universe or parts of the universe
• Hume's criticisms of Paley's argument

  • The strength of the argument depends upon the similarity between the things held to be analogous (the machine and the world), but Hume argued the two analogies are far apart as the world is more organic than mechanical
  • Hume questioned whether it is a sound notion that similar effects result necessarily from similar causes
  • Hume argued the world could be compared to a carrot rather than a machine, and the mark of design in the world could be vegetation rather than intelligence
• Similar cause (i.e. intelligence, thought)

  A number of people are involved in designing a house
• Similar effects


  Do not necessarily imply similar causes
• To know that an orderly universe must arise from intelligence and thought, we would have to have experienced the origin of the world