The Teleological ArgumentOr

The Design Argument

Religious Belief:God is a purposeful creator; all of life is created by God with a definite purpose and goal.

It is an indisputable fact that things within the universe (particularly living things) are extraordinarily complex.

Those who believe the complexity of the world must point towards a designer, God, often use the following examples:The bucket orchidHornbill HummingbirdHumans and their organs

Living things appear to have been designed with a specific purpose in mind.

Teleological comes from the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘purpose’.

Many believe the only possible explanation for such complexity is that they were designed by someone –

God.

The Big Bang theory suggests life has come from the debris of an explosion.

Some would argue though that the complexities apparent in the universe couldn’t happen by chance.

They compare it to a tornado sweeping through a junkyard leaving a fully formed functioning jumbo jet behind.

Some would also compare this chance happening to filling a room with monkeys and a computer and, given time, they would reproduce the complete works of Shakespeare.

Task

Answer questions 1, 2 , 4 & 9 on p 27/28

William Paley (1743-1805)

English theologian

Wrote Natural Theology

Paley’s Logic of Analogy

Paley used the complexity of the human eye as an example of a naturally occurring complex thing that surely needs a designer.

Paley’s Logic of Analogy

If you were walking on a beach and stumbled over a rock, you would think nothing of it; you wouldn’t be surprised to see it there.

However, if you were walking along a beach and came across a watch, you would wonder why it was there. It is not the usual place to find a watch.

If you had never seen a watch before, you would be struck by its complexity and consider the maker of the watch to be very clever; an intelligent designer.

Should the maker of the complex eye (and the world) not also be an intelligent designer (God)?

(What is an analogy?)

An analogy is when two similar ideas are deliberately compared.

Paley suggests it is reasonable to compare the natural world to a watch as they clearly have design in common.Things are designed for a purpose.

An argument from analogy uses inductive logic.

Based on what we can observe, we can induce a conclusion.

For example

How do we know in what sequence traffic lights change?

We know because we have seen them change enough times to remember the sequence. We can induce the sequence.

However this type of logic can only provide evidence that creates a high likelihood of the conclusion being true.

So in Paley’s analogy he is saying that, given the complexity of the world, it is highly likely that it came into existence due to the intention of the designer (God)

St Thomas Aquinas presented his own form of the teleological argument.

This is his fifth proof which he called the Argument from Harmony.

He believed all around was ‘adaptation’ or ‘accord’.

For example

Fish need to swim so …they have fins and tails.

Dogs need to gnaw bones so…they have sharp teeth.

Task

Answer questions 5, 6, 7 & 8 on p 28

The Anthropic Argument

The Anthropic Principle explains how natural laws such as gravity, had to be precisely right for the universe to come into existence. This is sometimes known as the fine tuning of the universe.

Some people argue that this precise and complex tuning couldn’t have happened by chance and had to have a designer (God).However others argue against the need for a designer. They call it the lottery fallacy. I.e. the chances of winning the lottery in your lifetime are incredibly slim. However someone always wins and given an infinite amount of time you would win. They argue why can’t this be true of the universe. Maybe there were countless failed universes before this one eventually came into existence.

Aristotle’s Four Causes

An author, Brian Magee, uses an example of a marble statue to explain Aristotle’s four causes.

TaskThink of the Statue of Liberty.

What 4 things (causes) were needed before the statue could come into existence?

1. The material (marble) - The material cause

2. A skilled sculptor and tools – The efficient cause

3. It needs to take form or shape – random hacking would not produce its shape. – The formal cause

4. A reason to produce it – purpose – The final cause

Some use Aristotle’s four causes to explain God’s teleological cause; he intended the universe to be asit is from the outset and used the other three causesto bring it about.

Reason & Faith

Religious people or theists would argue that belief in God is based on Reason & Faith.

In the Teleological Argument, reason suggests that there is too much blind chance involved in the creation of the universe and there must be a designer.They also claim there must be a designer; they know and believe it to be true. They have faith.They believe faith does not require proof now but rather that one day it will be proven. (Hebrews 11: 1-3)

The same principles apply in the Cosmological Argument; it is reasonable to assume there must a first and necessary cause (God) and again that they have faith that one day it will be proven.

Task

1.Answer questions 10, 11 & 12 on p28

2.In a new page copy the Summary on p 26.

Does the Teleological Argument Work?

The most famous critic was David Hume.

Criticism One - The Success of the Analogy

Hume criticised Paley’s Analogy. He pointed out that the strength of an analogy depends on how similar the things being compared are.

He argued that living things (a human eye) were organic, whereas man-made machines (a watch) were mechanistic.

He believed that using a human eye and a watch created a weak analogy and could not draw a definite or highly likely conclusion.

Criticism two – Who Designed the Universe?Hume thought at one point that maybe the universe had been designed but suggested that didn’t mean it had to be God.

He put forward that it could have been designed by more than one designer, an evil force or even an inferior, junior designer.

Think of games like… is a designer playing a game?

Hume suggested that as the world had so many imperfections, the designer was maybe ashamed of his attempt. Around 99% of all species have become extinct.

TASK List some imperfections in the world.

The Theory of Evolution

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)British scientistWrote On the Origins of the Species

Charles Darwin offered an explanation for order and complexity that did not require a designer. He believed that these came about naturally.

Richard Dawkins (born 1941)Evolutionary biologist, authorBooks include The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins claims that the theory of evolution completely destroys the teleological argument.

The Theory of Evolution

World’s landscape was volcanic and sulphurous with no life.

A meteor hits Earth bringing with it water.

Sponges form with the ability to produce oxygen from the water

Single cell organisms develop

Single cells multiply

The multiple cells evolve into fish

To survive the fish have to get out the water so evolve legs

To continue to survive they have to take to trees so evolve

wings.

TASK In pairs produce a poster in one period showing this

process.

Conclusion Has the design argument been defeated?

St Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)Algerian philosopher and theologian

St Augustine saw the Genesis creation story as anAllegory (a story with a meaning).

He would have been at ease with the theory of evolution as he saw each ‘day’ of creation as perhaps ‘millions of years’.The English translation of the Hebrew word for ‘day’ can also means ‘age’.

He therefore would have been happy to combine both theories.

FR Tennant (1856-1957)English philosophical theologianWrote Philosophical Theology

FR Tennant also suggested that maybe evolutionwas created by God; a slow evolution.He couldn’t understand that if our sole purpose was to survive, then why do we have brains that appreciate the ‘finer’ things in life like beautiful scenery, art and music.

TASK

Copy the summary on page 32 into a new page in your jotter

Answer all questions on p 32.