philosophy and ethics notes - all topics except war and peace and causation argument
- Created by: Sophie
- Created on: 17-04-13 18:38
Design/Teleological Argument
Basic Argument: The universe is so complex and shows order and purpose and therefore it must have been designed
· A posteriori – from experience
· Anthropic – to do with people
· Inductive – eg. Design qua regular;
o Universe demonstrates regular motion
o Universal set of rules in place
o Someone created this set of rules
· Analogical – eg. Paley’s watch
Plato
· Human body must be created
· Evidence - ‘Since the world of nature is so much better than that of humanity, the creator must be greater than humans’ – true? Cathedral vs Waterfall
Cicero
· 44BC
· De Natura Decorum
· ‘What could be more clear…when we look up at the sky…that there is some superior intelligence?’
· Similar to design qua regularity
Thomas Aquinas
· Fifth way
· ‘Everything operates as to a design. This design is from God’
· Non- rational beings act in a way that creates best result
· These behavious patters (eg Whales migrating) rarely change and end beneficially (esp. Salmon migrating up stream- often eaten- result not best for them but for greater purpose)
· Premises;
o Patterns have a purposeful goal
o Animals are non-rational
o Beneficial order cannot be self-explanatory as the universe is not
o Must be something directing them
· Premises not necessary, therefore conclusion not necessary
· Empirical – uses evidence from world to prove what is not in this world
· Plan or just instinct developed through evolution?
William Paley
· 1700s
· Natural Theology
· Design qua purpose – The watch analogy- all the parts of the watch fit together perfectly for and each has a purpose – like complex mechanisms of the human body eg. The eye, evidence of higher power – cancer? Failing eye sight? Appendix has no purpose
· Design qua regularity – used evidence from astronomy, Newton’s laws of motion and gravity – rotation of the sun in the solar system – everything adheres to the same universal laws eg Orbit due to gravity – couldn’t be chance, evidence of an external agent imposing order
· 20th Century – Arthur Brown used astronomy and ozone layer as evidence of design
Richard Swinburne
· ‘Science explains. God explains what science explains’
· Universe exhibits order, benefit (volcanoes?), purpose and suitability for human life
· Humans could not exist if
o Sun further away
o Axis of earth fraction % different
o Gravity stronger/weaker
o Temp different
· Delicacy of universe could not be chance
· Roles of the dice theory – infinite number of planets/universes, statistically one must be perfect
· Self-centred – humans fit for life on earth not other way around
Modern Forms
· Improbablilityof human evolution and the…
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