Teleological Argument

Aqunias believed that causation gives things their perfection. He believed that goal-directed behaviour is universal across all bodies obeying natural laws. He used the analogy of an arrow: where if you saw it flying through the air, you would assume that someone had fired it for a purpose. Similarly, he believes that everything in nature is directed towards a goal from someone with understanding and this, he calls God.

Paley used the analogy of a watch; where if you found an old pocket watch, you would be able to assume it had a maker. You would assume this because it is complex as it is made up of a myriad of intricate parts, which work harmoniously together. Moreover, you would believed that the watchmaker required intelligence to create it, and used this intelligence to plan making the aforementioned pocket watch. Furthermore, the watchmaker must have had a purpose - like Aquinas previously mentioned - to create the watch: and this was that the user would be able to tell the time.

Hume, under the guise of Cleanthes, also supported the teleological argument by saying that the world is like one great machine, made up of smaller machines. Thus, we must have a designer of the aforementioned machines. He claimed that stone, mortar and wood could not create a house without an architect.

Moreover, the anthropic principle claims that the world was made with us…