Arguments From Observation Flashcards
1
Q
Paley’s argument for regularity
A
- observation of objects that experience regularity
- Example - seasons, gravity
- examples such as the relationship between the planets, the regular rotations and the predictable effects of gravity
- these could not have come about without a designer
- there must be a calculating being who purposefully created the universe according to a well constructed plan
2
Q
Paley’s argument for purpose
A
- things were put together deliberately with a purpose
- example - eye to see, wing to fly
- this points to a designer
3
Q
Paley’s analogy of the watch
A
- the designer couldn’t have made it by change
- the world is more complex therefore there must be a creator
- arguments use understanding of machines to conclude that the world must be a machine
- you can see the telos of a watch like you can see the telos of the universe
- pointed out that a watch doesn’t need to fully be understood or working and that the world is more complex than a watch
4
Q
Aquinas teleological argument
A
- way 5
- we cannot achieve purpose without something to make it happen
- example of an archer
5
Q
Aquinas argument from the governance of the world
A
- things that lack knowledge act for a purpose
- acting for an end leads to the best result
- happens not by luck but by designer
- anything that lacks knowledge needs something to guide it
- there is an intelligent being that directs things to their end
- this is God
6
Q
Aquinas argument from analogy
A
- Archer and arrow
- in the same way an archer guides an arrow, God guides natural bodies to where they are meant to go
- natural body needs purpose just like the arrow needs to go to its target
7
Q
Strengths of the teleological argument
A
- examples in nature of non-thinking beings that act to achieve purpose
- correct that an arrow needs an archer in the same way it is reasonable to assume that all natural things are directed towards a purpose
- aquinas is the right that weekend an explanation for purpose - God works
- Swinburne - God is the simplest explanation of design in the universe
8
Q
Teleological weaknesses
A
- could be another explanation for apparent purpose, they have evolved to suit environment
- assumption about purpose, what is purpose could be chance
- Aquinas is accused of a logically fallacy - a leap to the God of classic theism
9
Q
Hume criticism of the teleological argument
A
- Not necessarily true that the world is like a watch
- true that a watch looks as it its designed but hard to say the same of the world with these characteristics
- it is more like veg with characteristics of intricacy
- epicurean hypothesis
- our world is finite and imperfect why is God infinite and perfect
- trial and error
- first rued attempt
- number of designers
- immoral designer
10
Q
Aquinas way 1
A
- unmoved mover
- things move from actuality to potentiality
- nothing can move by itself
- cannot be an infinite regress of movers
- must be an unmoved mover
- this is God
11
Q
Aquinas way 2
A
- uncaused causer
- everything is as a result of causes
- nothing can be its own cause
- cannot be infinite regress of causes
- must be uncaused causer
- God
12
Q
Aquinas way 3
A
- contingency and necessity
- everything in the universe is contingent
- must have been a time of nothing
- must be a necessary being that brought it into existence
- this is God
13
Q
Hume criticism of cosmological
A
- inductive reasoning leads to probable conclusions, we can only observe a limited amount and should not make the assumption that cause and effect apply to anything outside of our experience
- fallacy of composition - cannot make a jump that because everything in the universe has a cause the universe as a whole has a cause
- what is the cause of God (special case for God)? Could the universe not be necessary, there is no need for it to be contingent
- why not accept infinite regress, why does it have to be impossible
- even if we accept the universe has a cause, this does not have to be a God of classical theism, it could be a different type of god or being - another leap in logic
14
Q
Cosmological strengths
A
- way 1 = we can observe motion and change
- way 2 = we can see cause and effect
- way 3 = we can observe contingent things that rely on other things to exist
- observation - we can infer that there is a first mover, causer and necessary.
15
Q
Cosmological weaknesses
A
- it is just as reasonable to assume that there could be infinite regress
- possible that what we understand to be cause and effect is correlation
- leap in logic - doesn’t mean that the universe is contingent
- jump to the idea that God is the necessary
16
Q
Logical fallacies
A
- assumption that all things are moved, have a cause or purpose, are contingent
- infinite regression - things can go back infinitely but doesn’t explain why it was there in the first place
- jump to transcendent creation - jump to far (Aquinas pointing to aspects not proving)
- special case of God, not clear why God has to be a special case
- regularity and order - could have come about by chance
17
Q
Evolution
A
- challenges the teleological argument
- alternative explanation to how the world exists
- no need for a designer if evolution is accepted
18
Q
Believers and evolution
A
- believers feel that evolution works alongside belief in God
- tool that God used to make things the way they are
19
Q
Tenant - Anthropic principle
A
- modern teleological argument
- there is too much that has gone right for it to have come about by chance
- this world is finely balanced to allow life to exist - the favourable conditions suggest a designer
20
Q
Tenant - Aesthetic principle
A
- modern teleological argument
- humans appreciate music, art and beauty which have no survival value - this implies a benevolent designer
- the ability to recognise beauty has not come about by evolution
21
Q
Dawkins
A
‘Life is byte and bytes of digital information’
- cosmological argument criticism
- the ‘blind watchmaker’ - the process is blind, there is no overall purpose, evolution is carried on through random but cumulative mutations in DNA which produce variations in living organisms
22
Q
Morowitz - counter chance
A
- he looked at the probability for the existence of life in the universe
- concluded - the universe would have to be trillions of times older and larger for a protein molecule to have occurred by chance
- the chances of a protein molecule occurring by chance is 1:10^236
23
Q
Hoyle - counter chance
A
- the probability of life originating by chance is as likely as a hurricane raging through a junk yard and producing a Boeing 747
24
Q
Swinburne - counter chance
A
- maybe only if order is there can we know that there is order, but it is still extraordinary and needs an explanation
- God is a better ultimate explanation than the brute fact of the universe
25
Paley’s response to potential criticism
- even if we had never seen a watch before, we would still infer a designer (just as we have not seen God in the world)
- even if a watch did not work perfectly (just as there are faults in our world) there is still evidence of some desitgn
26
Examples
- Mackie - infinite hooks
- Leibniz - series of book copied from a pervious book
- inuits in new york
27
Leibniz - For CA
- Can’t be infinite regress
- even if it is possible it is not a full response for something happening
- principle of sufficient reason
- example of a series of books, each manuscript being copied from the previous one - there is no explanation for the series as a whole
28
Copleston - for CA
- everything in the universe is contingent
- universe is a sum of contingent things
- the universe itself is contingent
- this must be self-explanatory, necessary being
- this gives a full and sufficient reason for existence of the universe
29
Russell - against CA
- the universe requires no explanation
- every man who exists has a mother therefore the human race must have a mother, but obviously the human race hasn't a mother - that's a different logical sphere
- the universe may have reached this point in its existence because of a whole series of causes but this does not mean that there has to be one great cause behind it all
- uses Hume's 'brute fact' argument - the universe Just is and that's a fact that needs no further explanation we do not need to question why
30
Mackie - against CA
- why couldn’t we imagine infinite regress
| - leap in logic
31
Kant - against CA
- causality is just the way our minds like to see the world
- we impose the idea of cause and effect onto the world, the noumenal world can't be experienced by the senses
- if there is no causality, the Aquinas' way 2 does not make sense - there can be no first or uncaused causer
32
Goldilocks principle
the earth is just the right distance from the sun for life to evolve
33
strengths of a priori
- rely only on reason and logic - so are not deceived by the senses
- the premises lead to a certain conclusion
- concepts can be defined a priori and do not rely on empirical evidence that can be interpreted in different ways
34
strengths of a posteriori
- it relies on empiricism, sense and observation which everyone can experience and verify
- the evidence leads to a probable conclusion
- arguing from what is known, to what is unknown
35
weaknesses of a priori
- based on human definitions - we can define a triangle because we have seen it; how can an unknowable metaphysical being be defined
- it may only be possible to know a priori definition, not whether these things exist in reality
- if we deny the premises are valid the conclusion cannot be valid (KANT)
36
weaknesses of a posteriori
- the same evidence is available to all BUT it can lead to different conclusions (wisdom parable)
- limitations of the senses - only true for today, cannot get outside of our perception to check if it is correct (KANT)
37
EXTRA: ontological logical fallacies
- assumption: existence is a predicate and analytic, existence is not synthetic
- God is the greatest conceivable being or supremely perfect being, logically necessary
