Teleological argument

Question 1

Aquinas

Answer 1

• Teleological argument makes use of belief that Aristotle held that everything in the universe has telos
• Aquinas did not believe this happened naturally, but their must be an intelligent being behind this purposefulness

Question 2

William Paley

Answer 2

• First part of his argument is design qua purpose and rests on the watchmaker analogy
• If we found a watch on a heath, we would assume it had some form of designer, we can say the same of nature- this designer is God.

Question 3

Hume

Answer 3

• empiricist and naturalist
• Weak analogy:It cannot be assumed that a watch and the world can be compared when they have little similarity
• Does not highlight a Christian God: world is finite and imperfect, no need to assume a infinite and perfect God is behind it

Question 4

Aj Ayer

Answer 4

Cannot be verified therefore meaningless

Question 5

Darwin

Answer 5

• Theory of evolution:the different species we can see in the world have not always existed in their current form
• Those with stronger surviving capabilities lived longer and were able to produce more offspring, whilst the weaker traits no longer existed

Question 6

Dawkins

Answer 6

-Discovery of DNA provides an explanation for the existence of humanity- no need to assume God’s participation

Question 7

J.H Newman

Answer 7

-welcomed evolution as ‘suggesting a larger idea of divine providence or skill’

Question 8

John Wisdom analogy

Answer 8

• 2 men neglected garden, where the plants have flowered
• one believes a gardener has happened and refuses to believe that he has not despite the other man proving him wrong oftenly

Question 9

Flew

Answer 9

“death by 1000 qualifications”

religious believers don’t accept any evidence against them, thus causing their statements to be weak

Question 10

John Stuart Mill

Answer 10

• “nearly all things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another are nature’s everyday performance”
• Nature allows the innocent to be killed by wild animals, starvation, freezing, poison

Question 11

Schliermacher

Answer 11

-logical contradiction in believing a world designed by a perfect creator could go wrong

Question 12

Augustine

Answer 12

natural evil created by privatio boni- not God

Question 13

J.L Mackie

Answer 13

“a wholly good being eliminates evil as far as it can”