Arguments For The Existence Of God Flashcards
(47 cards)
What is the teleological argument?
An argument for the existence of God that claims everything that exists seems to have a telos. This suggests a designer, such as God
What is Aquinas’ fifth way?
Even inanimate things which lack knowledge have a telos which they fulfil. This suggests they must be directed by a being with knowledge (God)
Arguments against Aquinas’ TA
- These living beings may have just evolved to suit their environment, rather than being designed to have a purpose
- What we assume to be purpose may be chance
- Aquinas can be accused of logical fallacy. He leaps to the Christian God
Strengths of Aquinas TA
- We can observe in nature non living things acting towards their purpose
- It is correct that an arrow requires an archer. This can be applied to other natural things
- Aquinas is right that we need an explanation for purpose
From when did William Paley live?
1743-1805
What major event went on during Paleys life?
The industrial revolution
What were Paleys two types of design argument?
- Design qua purpose
- Design qua regularity
What is design qua purpose?
Design based on purpose
Evidence for design can be found in the purpose of things
What is design qua regulatory
Design based on regulatory, order, regular patterns, predibility.
Evidence for design can be found in regular patterns, e.g orbits.
Plaey’s watch argument.
- If you were to observe a watch in nature, you could tell it was different and had a design. Therefore, it has a designer.
- Paley argued the same design can be seen in the natural processes of the world
- Hence, the world has a designer which is God.
What example of design in nature did Paley use?
The human eye
What criticisms does Hume have of Paley’s analogy of the watch?
- The universe may have been designed by many Gods, in the same way a machine is made by many hands
- The universe is not like a machine, it is more like a living organism
- The idea of a mechanical design leads to an anthropomorphic God
What did Hume criticise about the religious worth of the design argument?
- The universe may have been designed by many Gods
- If we look carefully at some designs, they are faulty, so if there is a designer he may be non moral
- Perhaps this world was the first attempt of an infant deity, who then abandoned it.
What did Hume argue was equally as likely as God designed the world?
That it came about by chance
How does Darwin’s natural selection challenge the teleological argument?
- If species have survived due to adaptations, then there is no need for ultimate design
- If evolution is a random process, there is no overall purpose or planned design
- It challenged the status of human kind. The world is no longer centred around humans.
Which book does Richard Dawkins attack the watch analogy in?
‘The blind watch maker’
What is F.R tenants anthropic principle?
The world is finely balanced to allow life to exist. These favourable conditions point to a designer
What is F.R Tenants Aesthetic principle?
Humans appreciate things which have no survival value such as music or beauty, which implies a designer.
What is the cosmological argument?
An argument for the existence of God starting form observations of the existence of the universe
What are Aquinas’ three ways that cover the cosmological argument?
- The Argument from motion
- The argument from causation
- The argument from contingency
What is the argument from motion?
- The reduction of something from potentiality to actuality.
- Aquinas argued nothing can change by itself, and since there cannot be an infinite regress of moves there must be an unmoved changer, ie God
What is the argument from causation?
- Everything in the universe is the result of a succession of causes. As nothing can be its own cause, there must be a first cause which remains unchanged and uncaused, ie God
The argument from contingency
- Everything in the universe is contingent, it can either exist or not. It is possible that there was a time where nothing existed. However, something cannot come from nothing
- Therefore there must have been a necessary being which brought things into existence, ie God.
Why does David Hume reject the idea of cause based in empirical evidence?
We can only observe a limited amount and should not assume that cause and effect apply to anything outside of our actual experience.
