Teleological Argument
- Created by: susanna
- Created on: 10-05-13 17:29
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- Teleological Argument
- Aquinas
- Everything in the world is directed to some goal and follows natural laws, whether intelligent or not.
- He bases his argument on the fact that things in nature follow certain laws that lead to certain results.
- E.g. if a glass falls onto the floor it's due to gravity- someone must've set up this natural law
- God
- E.g. if a glass falls onto the floor it's due to gravity- someone must've set up this natural law
- He bases his argument on the fact that things in nature follow certain laws that lead to certain results.
- Everything in the world is directed to some goal and follows natural laws, whether intelligent or not.
- Payley
- Uses his watch analogy to explain his theory.
- A watch has many delicate pieces that all function in exactly the right way in which to make it work.
- Therefore a designer must have put all of these pieces together.
- A watch has many delicate pieces that all function in exactly the right way in which to make it work.
- Also uses an example of a human eye
- Uses his watch analogy to explain his theory.
- Challenges from Hume
- An unsound analogy
- Therefore a designer must have put all of these pieces together.
- Because our world and Payley's watch aren't similar it is a weak argument
- Our world isn't a machine. It is composed of vegetables and animals
- To know that an orderly universe must arise from intelligence and thought we would have to of experienced the origin of the world.
- An unsound analogy
- Challenges from Darwin and Dawkins
- Natural Selection described a way of understanding the natural world whereby it's complex biological functions no longer required an Intelligent Designer to account for apparent order
- Variations of offspring within a species- Survival of the fittest.
- They then pass on their genetic traits
- They will have the appearance of design but will be a result of evolving by variation
- They then pass on their genetic traits
- Variations of offspring within a species- Survival of the fittest.
- Natural Selection described a way of understanding the natural world whereby it's complex biological functions no longer required an Intelligent Designer to account for apparent order
- Strengths and Weaknesses
- Strengths
- Gives an explanation- it answers the question, Why is the world the way it is?
- Fits with other arguments for God's existence- They all point to the same conclusion- God.
- Recent scientific findings support it. Finely balanced universe
- Challenges by Hume fail- There appears to be a purpose in nature and the watch displays purpose
- Weaknesses
- Not a proof- Based on probabilities not actual proof.
- An un -designed universe- Until we know what the world was when it wasn't designed we cannot say it's designed
- God is not an external being- God is not an object or a thing it represents what is most important to us
- Strengths
- Aquinas
- Our world isn't a machine. It is composed of vegetables and animals
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