1B- Teleological

Question 1

Explain aquinas’ 5th way

Answer 1

in summa theologica- proving God’s existence from ‘the governance of things’

Design qua regularity (order and regularity of the universe are evidence of a designer)- eg the movement of planets is proof the universe is intelligently designed

He observed (a-posteriori) that all purposes in the universe have been designed to support human life eg rain so we have enough to drink

He argues that non-intelligent entities support human life (trees,clouds) so there must be an intelligent being to bring this telos

Archer and arrow analogy- an arrow cannot fire itself at a target- it needs someone to direct it (God)

‘Whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed’

Question 2

Explain Paleys argument

Answer 2

Proposed his argument in his ‘natural theology’
Put argument forward through ‘watch analogy’- Design qua purpose
For Paley it focussed on order, regularity and purpose
Analogy of complex design (Paley’s watch)- if you come across a stone you would say it was formed by natural events- however, if you came across a watch you would say it has a designer (a watchmaker) as its complex- the working of a watch is analogous to the workings of the universe, so there must be a designer, which is God
so God exists
Other examples (which are natural phenomena): human teeth- at birth you have no teeth, then as a baby you have teeth and then adult teeth. Eyes- various parts are complex
He argued his argument would not be weakened even if the watch was broken as you can still see the design of how it should work

Question 3

Explain Tennant’s argument

Answer 3

Wrote ‘philosophical theology’
Put forward 2 modernism arguments: anthropic and aesthetic principle

Anthropic: must be a designer- chances of big bang and evolution creating a stable universe are so remote (10 to the power of 6)- world is not in chaos; intelligent order, sustained life, intelligent progression
Infinite monkey theorem- monkeys writing on a typewriter will end up writing Shakespeare- use against anthropic- the universe can be random- however mathematicians have no come out to say the universe will end before monkeys do this

Aesthetic: humans have the ability to appreciate beauty of surroundings (eg world, art, literature) which is not a survival instinct- there’s no other species that reacts to their surroundings in this way- this appreciation must have been designed by another source (direct result of an omnibenevolent God)- beauty has ‘little survival value’ (Tennant)
universe= specifically designed for intelligent human life