The Teleological The Teleological ArgumentArgument

The idea that there is evidence of The idea that there is evidence of design in the universe which design in the universe which

suggests a designersuggests a designer

The classical argumentThe classical argument

• The universe has order, purpose and regularity• The complexity of the universe shows evidence of design• Such design implies a designer• The designer of the universe is God

Two arguments for designTwo arguments for design

• Design Qua (relating to) Regularity– The universe works to a particular order– Planets rotate– There are natural laws

• Design Qua Purpose– Parts of the universe appear to fit for a

purpose

Design Qua RegularityDesign Qua Regularity

• Thomas Aquinas’ The fifth way

• Non-intelligent things produce order– They require an intelligent being to do this

• “Now whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence;”

• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica

Design Qua PurposeDesign Qua Purpose

• Response to 17th century mechanistic physics

• Isaac Newton (1642-1727) – laws of gravity and motion

• Universe is like a machine with all the parts fitting and working together like clockwork

• Pierre Laplace (1749 – 1827) – no need for God

• One day we will know everything through science

Design Qua PurposeDesign Qua Purpose

• William Paley (1743-1805)– Responded to the new scientific ideas– Book – Natural Theology (1802)

• Compared a ‘stone’ with a ‘watch’• Would find that the parts of a watch had been put

together for a purpose• An intelligent person would infer a designer• Similarly the parts of the universe infer a designer• Similarly the parts of the body infer a designer

William PaleyWilliam Paley

• The first part of Paley’s argumnet is Design Qua Purpose

• The second part of his argument is Design Qua Regularity

• Using Newton’s discoveries, he points out that the rotation of the planets could not have come about by chance

• He concludes design by an external agent - God

David Hume (1711-1776)David Hume (1711-1776)

• Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779)

• Why Conclude a beginning?• Why conclude the creator to be the God of

theism?– Why not one or more lesser gods?

• Flaws in design – suffering, death – support the idea of an imperfect designer

David Hume David Hume (1711-1776)(1711-1776)

• Hume’s arguments against design:– Humans have limited knowledge and

experience– Analogy of human design suggests many

gods not one– Analogy of universe to machine not good

• More like a vegetable that grows

– Epicurean Hypothesis points to chance

Epicurean HypothesisEpicurean Hypothesis

• At time of creation universe consisted of random particles

• Universe is eternal

• Inevitable that eventually an ordered state would develop

• Therefore the stability and order is the result of random movement of particles not a designer

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)(1806-1873)

• An empiricist• knowledge grounded in experience

– God is described as– All-powerful– All-knowing– All-loving

– There is suffering in the world– An all-loving God would not allow suffering– Therefore either God

• could not avoid suffering, did not know about it or does not care

Charles Darwin (1809 -1882)Charles Darwin (1809 -1882)

• The Origins of Species (1859)

• Random variations within species result in– Survival of those with best advantage (the

fittest)– Demise of those disadvantaged

• Therefore a process of natural selection rather than design by God

Putting it altogetherPutting it altogether

• Write bullet points that show how you would go about answering the following exam question:

a) Explain the main arguments for design as presented by Aquinas and Paley (33)

b) ‘Hume makes a more convincing case than Paley.’ Discuss (17)