1.3 - Arguments based on observation Flashcards
What are teleological arguments?
-attempt to demonstrate the existence of god from the evidence of order and purpose around us
-argue that wouldnt have complex purposeful features in the world unless a divine intelligence designed them
What are cosmological arguments?
-try to demonstrate existence of god by asking why is there something rather than nothing
-the existence of the universe requires an explanation and the best one is gods existence
Paley’s design argument
-used the analogy of a finding a watch to show when we see something working well we know its been designed
-this means when we see order and purpose in the world we must assume its been designed
-we can tell god cares for us from the care he put into creation
Paley’s belief on designs
-everything is clearly designed for a purpose, to an infinite degree of care
-on the smallest scale there is evidence of craft and skill
Aquinas’ design argument
-based of his fifth way of proving that god exists
-suggests nature seems to have order and purpose to it
-nothing inanimate is purposeful without a guiding hand
-non living things cant have their own purposes
Aquinas’ arrow analogy
-if we saw an arrow flying we know someone will have aimed and fired it
-when we look at inanimate objects around the world we conclude the guiding hand of god must be behind it
-everything in nature which moves w/o intelligence must be moving due to god
Cosmological arguments
-use the starting point of the universe and look for a reason why everything exists
-this must be something outside of time and space as the physical world can’t be the reason for its own existence
Aquinas’ 1st Way
-the unmoved mover, concentrates on motion
-his argument is that everything is in motion and something must have put it all into motion
-things stay the same unless force acts upon them
Aquinas’ 2nd way
-the uncaused causer, every effect has a cause
-concentrates on aristotle’s efficient cause
-questions why things exist, aristotle’s final cause is what makes something happen
Aquinas’ 3rd way
-contingency, the world consists of contingent beings
-beings that begin and end, dependent on something else for their existence
-things are contingent in 2 ways, depend on something to be made and depend on something to survive
Leibniz and the principle of sufficient reason
-everything that exists must have a cause for its existence
-if a statement is true their must be a reason why its true
-if something happens there must be a reason why
-whether something is eternal or not doesnt matter, there still must be a reason for it
Humes criticism of watch analogy
-we cannot assume the world is exactly like a watch
-characteristics of design are obvious in a watch but not in the world
-the only reason we conclude a watch has been designed is because its not like other objects in nature
Humes criticism of the order argument
-just because there is order in the world doesnt mean theres an orderer
-there may be more ordered worlds we havent seen which prove earth is actually not very ordered at all
-any world with order looks designed as it wouldnt exist without order
-it is impossible to show god created this order
Hume’s criticism of the principle of sufficient reason
-we can imagine something coming into existence without a cause
-not everything has to have an explanation
Hume’s criticism of the principle of sufficient reason
-we can imagine something coming into existence without a cause
-not everything has to have an explanation
