Teleological Argument

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Teleological Argument

Advantages

  • Argument from observation
  • Based on empirical evidence
  • Aquinas' 5th way - analogy of the arrow and the archer. Withstands criticism through evolution to an extent as it is more about things being set in motion to reach their goals by an intelligent being.
  • William Paley's watch analogy. We can conclude the watch has a designer. In the same way we can conclude the universe has a designer.
  • Anthropic Principle: Swinburne argues it is highly unlikely the universe would have come about by chance and still have the perfect conditions for human life. The Big Bang would needed to have been incredibly precise to create conditions humans can survive in. More likely the Big Bang was aided by a designer.

Disadvantages

  • Hume: Cause and effect. Even if we can say there is a designer we cannot say the designer is God
  • Epicurean Thesis
  • Evolution is the reason things appear designed
  • Hume: Mechanical objects are bad analogies. World is more like a cabbage
  • Hume: Man made objects usually have more than one designer
  • J.S. Mill: World is not perfect, problem of evil, most we can conclude is an evil designer or a flawed one
  • Hume: We haven't actually OBSERVED the creation of the universe
  • Fallacy of composition: What is true for the part isn't always true for the whole

Evaluation

Evidence of design in the world > refuted by theory of evolution and Big Bang > Anthropic principle can be used to respond to this > Can be supported by Aquinas' 5th way  Argument is based on observation > Hume argues we haven't actually observed the creation/design of the universe > Links to fallacy of composition 

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