Teleological argument

• Teleological arguement- a posteriori argument (based on observation)
• AKA Design argument 
• Observes the complexities of the world e.g. specific arrangments of the solar system- coments on purpose and regularity 
• Inductive argument; (based on evidence)
• Uses analolgy; universe as a machine. Machine has specific purpose and works in regular ordered manner- as does the universe. Thus, universe-desgned like machines
• Many believe- solid argument for the existence of an ultimate deigner- God of Classical Theism.

• Four causes theory; 
• Everything in the universe had four causes
• Material; what it's made from
• Formal; what gives it its shape 
• Efficient; who made it 
• Final cause; purpose 
• Christian philosophers- everything in universe has a purpose- thus universe has been designed

• Developed Aristotle's ideas to for his thoeory of 'regularity of succession'
• Everything in the universe follows natural laws- whether consciously or not
• Natural laws-lead to certain results e.g. dropping glass will result in it falling to the floor and smashing 
• T.A focused on unconscious/unthinking things in natural world- still follow natural laws
• Analogy of archer and arrow; arrow hits target despite not having a mind of its own- thus requires an archer (conscious being) to shoot it. 
• Likened analogy to universe; universe couldn't have designed itself; unconscious so must have a designer that created it- Aquinas argued God
• Weaknesses of Aquinas.

  • Does everything follow a general law set down by a designer?

  • A. Flew suggests that Aquinas’ claim that things in nature are directed to some purpose goes against the available evidence.

  • Swinburne claims that Aquinas assumes that God imposes regularity and laws on the universe.

• Compares rock to watch; watch demonstrates- fitness for a purpose, parts work together/fit for a purpose and parts are ordered
• Compared universe to a watch
• If one saw a watch on floor, one would assume it has been put there by someone and that all the parts couldn't have just come together- far too ordered and complictaed 
• Likened this to universe; as it also shows sign of Design qua Purpose (it was designed to fill a pupose) and Design qua Regulaity (it behaves according to some order) 
• Therfore, universe being so intricate like a watch in its design; unreasonable to suggest it had just come about without the aid of a designer 
• Paley used this reasoning; existence of a universe designer- God
• The complexity of nature is illustrated by the human eye or the rotation of the planets; which show purpose.

• Uses observations and ideas from evolutionary theories to reinforce his point.
• Big Bang and evolutionary process- means by which God was able to create the universe and move it to its current situaion- combining science and religion
• Main argument; infinite number of possible conditions that would've caused life to not exist
• e.g. if BB had been any bigger/smaller- big difference in how the world was formed- potentially not able to sustain life 
• Fact that life does exist- indication of intelligent design and of a fine-tuned world- designed specifally to sustain human life 
• Tennant; "the survival of the fittest presupposes the arrival of the fit" - without a planned and structured creatation- our life couldn't possibly exist/developed- giving further strength to design arguments demonstrating the aid of a designer. 

• References the concept of beauty
• World is full of beauty; humans appriciate 
• Tennant observed- universe possess natrual beauty- humans can appreciate- but not remotely necessary for survival, natural selection or life; e.g. the beauty of art, music and literature.
• Natural beauty can't be explained by science; thus only logical reason for its presence is for humanity's enjoyment
• Tennant hypothesised- beauty put into the universe by God for benefit of humanity- universe created for humans and thus pointing to the idea of a creator/designer who created the universe and all its beauty. 
• Both arguements challenge the theory of evolution; just happened coinscidence and evolved throught natural selection

• Swinburne; scientific method should use the simplest explanation when possible; scientific methods cannot explain why there's deep and fundamental order in the first place. 
• He argued D.A based on analogy is an arguement based on spatial order- complex structres e.g. plants. 
• Believes developement of plants and order of such complexities- explained by science e.g. theory of natural selection 
• Ockham's Razor; "if you have two theories that both explain the observed facts, then you should use the simplest until more evidence comes along" -William of Ockham
• Swinburn; choice of choosing D.A  or the world created by chance- pick D.A. as it's the most simple of the two and doesn't raise as many questions
• Mordern support; propose by Christian apologists- intelligent design is a view that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not undireced and random process e.g. natural selection. Scientific communty- based on religious belief rather than scientific evidence- largely rejected this. Scientific concensus- life evolved. 
• Penrose's calculations; the likelihood of our planet's position which makes it habitable for life is 10¹²³ to 1- extreamly unlikely- yet that fact that it does questions the aid of a deigner according to Penrose.
  

• Teleologcial- stems from Greek 'telos' meaning 'end goal' or 'nature'. 
• Kant; refers to it as the 'physico-theological' proof; the proof that moves from physical observations to theological conclusions.
• Technically strong argument; rests on emperically observable, verifible propositions
• Cicero presented an early version of the argument- from order and complexity, qua regularity as well as qua purpose; "when you see a sundial... tells the time by design and not by chance"
• Cleanthes; bases his beliefs about God's existence & nature upon a version of the teleologcal arguement, using evidence of design in the universe to argue for God's existence and resemblance to the human mind 
• Philo asserts that human reason is wholly inadequate to make any assumptions about the divine 
• Demea defends philosophical theism; existence of God- should be proven via a priori reasoning & our beliefs about the nature of God- based upon revelation and faith. Demea rejects Cleanthes' natural religion (faith based on inductive reasoning)
• Cleanthes, like Paley likens the universe to a man-mde machine and concludes by the principle that similar effects have similar causes- must have a designer.

• Irreducible complexity; suggest that evolution is an inadequate explanation for at least those organisms which exhibit it. Complex organisms evolved; must be possible to see how they would've functioned at stages before their present complexity was complete; difficault to suppose they evolved naturally. 
• Specified complexity; a probablity argument- statisticians e.g. Dembski; some very complex, very specified organisms break the Probablity Bound- making it more likely they were designed than evolved by chance.

• Argument convincing- played an important part in becoming a Christian 
• Lewis put forward Kant's 'Moral Argument'- doesn't attempt to prove God, but suggests that His existence is a sensible postluate to explain the existence of order and a universal, rational moral law which commands all human beings. 

Illustrates the contraversy between the beliver and the sceptic; how God can be perceived as real, even if he is ullusive, invisable based on scientific evidence or simply faith.