The Teleological Argument

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  • Created by: wallagee
  • Created on: 24-12-21 16:02

The Teleological Argument/ The Design Argument 

Can be either:
1) Qua Purpose - arguments from direction and goal
2) Qua Regularity - arguments from order

5 Main Teleological Arguments:

Aquinas' 5th Way
Objects achieve their telos by following natural laws - e.g. flowers grow towards the sun
----> Someone must have laid out these laws
----> We as rational creatures can aim towards our telos; someone must guide mindless objects
ANALOGY OF THE ARCHER 
The arrow finds its target because some external force is applied to it - the archer 
"Hence it is plain that not fortuitously but designedly do they achieve their ends."

William Paley
We can see design in the universe e.g. how perfectly the eyes is structured for sight. Design necessarily implies a designer, and greatness in the design implies greatness in the designer. 
WATCH ALLEGORY 
On a beach, we know a pebble is naturally occurring, but a watch is very clearly a designed item due to the multiple parts that all fit together perfectly for a function - even if it is flawed, and even though we don't see the watchmaker, it has been designed.

Intelligent Design
Specified Complexity - William Dembski

A single letter of the alphabet is…

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