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The Teleological Argument Summary
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AS - Level Philosophy (Teleological Argumemt) Mind Map on The Teleological Argument Summary, created by Miranda Daniel on 16/12/2015.
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The Teleological Argument Summary
The Teleological Argument
Thomas Aquinas
Way 5 is a design argument
Aquinas argued that everything in the natural work is directed to some goal, & follows natural laws set up by something which thinks (i.e. God)
Regularity of succession argument- Aquinas' archer example
Aquinas was influenced by Aristotle's theory of 4 Causes; links Final Cause to God
Weaknesses in his argument
Does everything follow a general law set down by a designer
Anthony Flew suggests that Aquinas' claim that things in nature are directed to some purpose goes against the available evidence
Swinburne claims that Aquinas assumes what is at issue- whether God imposes regularity & laws on the universe
William Paley
Presents a purpose argument
Compares a rock and a watch:
The watch demonstrates fitness for a purpose; parts work together/ fit for a purpose/ the parts are ordered
Part 2 of arg: imagination function of the watch= producing other watches
Watch like this suggests the existence of something conscious and intelligent
Argues by analogy that nature requires a much greater designer than the watch
The complexity of nature is illustrated by the human eye
Challenges to Design Arguments
J. S. Mill
Questioned the goodness of nature given the apparent cruelty to be found within nature (e.g. the behaviour of a digger wasp)
David Hume
Nothing to which a universe can be satisfactorily compared
Paley- lack of knowledge increases our sense of wonder
Swinburne- reasonable to say more about the cause of the event other than just it causes the event
Analogy of the house builder and an architect; challenges about the design's quality (the problem of evil)
Paley- rejects this; considered the issue to be whether the universe exhibited signs of designs
Other possible explanations than God for apparent design in the universe (e.g. DNA today)
Is there evidence the world has a single designer? (The analogy of a great ship)
Random activity can lead to orderliness rather than disorder (supported by the discovery of natural selection)
Natural Selection
Darwin's discovery was influenced by:
Discoveries during the voyage of the Beagle
Sir Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology
Thomas Malthus' idea that food supplies increase arithmetically and populations grow exponentially
Natural selection can explain the emergence of complex living organisms without any need to refer to design, a designer, or purpose
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