Ocr Philosophy - The Teleological Argument

Front 1

Who did the Teleological Argument?

Back 1

Thomas Aquinas and William Paley

Front 2

Who had objections towards Paley's argument?

Back 2

Hume

Mill

Darwin

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Who was William Paley?

Back 3

- Archdeacon of Carlisle

- Lecturer of metaphysics and moral at Cambridge University

- Lived in the 18th century

- His book: 'Natural Theology'

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Paley's Teleological Argument

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- It is a posteriori

- It is analogical (compares the universe and things within it to a watch and concludes that they are both products of designing minds).

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How does Paley's argument work?

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Paley asks the reader to imagine a person walking upon a heath and finding a stone. The person finding the stone would assume that the stone had always been there and it can be explained because of chance factors (wind, erosion and heat).

Paley then asks the reader to imagine a person walking upon a heath and finding a watch. Paley says the person finding the watch cannot come to the same conclusions as they did the stone.

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What does Paley say about finding the watch?

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Paley says that a watch is a complex thing. He thinks that it is absurd to say that the watch exists because of a set chance of occurences.

Paley says that it is sensible to infer that an intelligence designed and created the watch because of its complexity. The watch is the product of the watchmaker. He said that it even if the watch did not work properly we can still infer the existence of a watchmaker, as there is enough design.

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What does Paley then compare the watch to?

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Paley compares the watch to the universe and other natural things in it e.g. the eye. The eye is intricately structured and highly complex, just like the watch. It has features which allow sight to take place. The eye seems to have been made for a purpose designed by a superior intelligence.

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How does Paley conclude his argument?

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God is the designer of the natural world and that he must be omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent.

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Who was Thomas Aquinas?

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- Roman Catholic Natural Theologian

- Influenced by Aristotle

- Argued that it was possible to use a posteriori reasoning to demonstrate God's existence.

- His book: 'Summa Theologica'

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What did Aquinas say in Summa Theologica?

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1) Aquinas formulated 5 ways to demonstrate that it is reasonable to argue that God exists

2) Aquinas' 'fifth way' (influenced by Aristotle) puts forwards the argument that things observed appear to have been designed for a purpose and seen to have been constructed to carry out certain functions.

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What is Aquinas argument?

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Aquinas says that things in the natural world do not have any inate intelligence, so cannot achieve the best possible results themselves e.g. an acorn is purposive, it has a purpose, it can develop into an oak tree. But it doesn't have any innate intelligence in itself to ensure that this happens. Aquinas argues that things function the way they do because they have a superior intelligence [God].

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What is Aquinas' analogy?

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He compares things in the natural world that have no innate intelligence but have a purpose. Aquinas uses the example of an arrow hitting a target. The arrow has no individual innate intelligence, but it can still perform in a way that achieves best results. The arrow only reaches the target because there is an archer.

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Why does Aquinas think that innate objects can achieve a purpose?

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Aquinas says that an innate object can achieve a purpose because efficiently because they were designed that way by God. Aquinas says that this reasoning demonstrates that there is a designing intelligence responsible for the teleological functioning of things that have no innate intelligence in the same way as an arrow.

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What is Aquinas argument based on?

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It is influences and based on Aristotle's philosophy that affirms that nature is teleological and purposive and that everything within it has a purpose and function.

Aquinas says that purpose can only be explained by accepting that God exists to bring about such state of affairs.

Aquinas says that the only way to explain the teleology of things that lack innate intelligence is to postulate the existence of God who directs all things towards fulfilling their potential.

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Who was David Hume?

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1) An empiricist philosopher who lived in the 18th Century Empiricism states that evidence is very important before any theory/belief can be accepted.

2) His criticisms are found in 'Dialogues concerning Natural Religion'.

3) His argument are not written directly to criticise Paley's teleological argument because the 'Dialogues' were written 23 years before Natural Theology.

The Dialogues contain a debate between three characters, written by Hume, about posteriori arguments for God's existence. Scholars think that Philo represents Hume's views.

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Hume's first criticism: Design arguments are weak analogies.

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1) The creator Philo expresses this criticism.

2) This criticism is that any version of the teleological depends on very weak and unsatisfactory use of analogy.

3) Teleological arguments, like Paley's, use a comparison between two very different things in order to come to a conclusion.

4) Paley uses the example of the complexity of a watch and compares it to the complexity of the human eye, concluding that there must be a designing intelligence for both.

5) Hume says that the comparison between the universe and the watch (machine) is very weak.

6) Hume says that is it not possible or justifiable to conclude that the universe or eye has been designed like a machine or watch.

7) Hume is attempting to show that how a person looks at the universe will affect the conclusions that they can come to.

8) Paley is assuming that the watch must have been designed, which Hume doesn't think is justified.

9) Hume uses the example of a cabbage, where he said that if you look closely at the leaves are intricately structured and put together, but it would be nonsense to infer that there is a existence of a cabbage designer. This is because cabbages are natural organisms.

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Hume's second criticism: Argument from effect to cause.

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1) Many philosophers call this criticism o the teleological arguments from effect to cause.

2) The basic idea that Hume puts forward is that any analogical teleological argument can only provide limited conclusions. This is found in part V (5) of Dialogues.

3) Hume thinks that the basic principle which underlies the teleological arguments is that similar effects are produced by similar causes.

4) Hume argues that it is not possible to go from an effect to a cause greater than that needed to produce the cause.

5) The example, Hume uses is the set of scales. He says that we can only see one of the scale of pans, which has a known weight in it. The pan in which we can see is in the air, so the other pan which we cannot see must be heavier, but we do not know by how much.

6) If we think about Paley's watch analogy, we can tell that a watch was made by an external cause.

7) Hume says that our limited experience of the natural world and universe does not allow us to say that they were designed by an omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent God.

8) Therefore, Hume suggests that if the universe was designed it could have been designed by a number of Gods.

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Hume's third criticism: The Epicurean Thesis / Alternative Explanations of order in Natural World.

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In part VII (7) of Dialogues Hume, using Philo suggests some alternative explanations that explain the order and design in the world tat do not require the existence of God.

1) Some of these explanations are 'apparent design' and this means that they do not have to be caused by God.

2) Hume suggests that apparent design could have arisen from the fact that animals have adapted to their environment. He also suggests that the universe could have been created by a giant spider spinning from its abdomen.

3) Hume uses this example because he suggests that because the spider-web is intricately structured and complex then it is the product of chance rather than the product of a designing mind.

4) Hume uses the thinking of these Ancient Greek philosophers to argue that is time is infinite then stable order could randomly arise.

5) Hume raises the possibility time there could be a huge but finite number of particles, freely moving around. Over time, these particles would undergo every possible combination, if any one combination happened to represent a stable order then order could randomly occur.

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Hume's fourth criticism: Evil and suffering

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This final criticism looks at the evil and suffering found in natural world and concludes that the existence of benevolent God who is omnipotent and omniscient cannot be inferred. This is because evidence/existence tells us that the world has evil in it - natural and moral. We could only argue that God is perfectly good is things were perfect.