Teleology

Question 1

Origins

Answer 1

A posteriori arguments- start from point of observing
Telos- ordered towards purpose
Cannot logically fail, only present improbabilities

Question 2

Aquinas’ Fifth Way

Answer 2

All being act towards a purpose- ‘not fortuitously but designedly’- evidence of design, must be directed, must be God
‘Some intelligent being exists by which all natural things are directed to their end, and this being we call God’
Argument Qua Purpose

Question 3

William Paley Watchmaker Analogy

Answer 3

If a watch were found upon the ground, its complexity and regularity shows beyond reasonable doubt that it was created- so it is with the universe- ‘eye was not formed without any regard for vision’
Even if the watch were broken, or unfamiliar to the finder

Question 4

Two branches of Watchmaker Analogy

Answer 4

Watch has clearly valuable function- must be designed- Argument Qua Purpose
Necessarily precise and exact- must be designed- Argument Qua Regularity

Question 5

Evolution

Answer 5

Darwin’s theory of evolution discredits idea of pre-designed reality
Dawkins- universe is ‘brute fact’
Entropy- all systems are eventually breaking down

Question 6

Post-Darwin Revisions

Answer 6

Anthropic coincidences- exact strength of gravity, etc.
Many Worlds Hypothesis- the cosmic odds being exact is unsurprising as we would not know otherwise- discredited by Swinburne
Beauty- humans have natural sense of morality, beauty is present even on micro and macro scale
World is coherent and intelligible- argued for by Tennant

Question 7

Hume’s Criticisms

Answer 7

World is ‘hostile and destructive’, not harmonious or ordered
Flawed design implies flawed creator
Analogy of ship- could be the work of a pantheon of gods
Could be the work of an infant or unskilled God

Question 8

Mill

Answer 8

God is either not good or not omnipotent

Question 9

Kant

Answer 9

There is no order or purpose in nature- we impose this idea onto chaos around us

Question 10

Further Criticisms

Answer 10

Possibility of multiple universes- in which only ours was suitable for life to emerge- no need for divine creator
Any answer is equally unlikely- looking only at small chances of exact reality which has happened ignores the minimal odds of any other reality