The Telelogical Argument

Question 1

Outline Aquinas’ analogy of the archer.

Answer 1

• Everything in the universe has a purpose
• This purpose must come about through some higher power (God)
• Objects can only be aimed towards a goal (their telos) with the guidance of an intelligent being

Question 2

What is meant by design qua purpose?

Answer 2

The universe has been designed for a specific purpose

Question 3

Outline the watchmaker analogy.

Answer 3

• If you came across a watch, you would assume it has been designed due to it’s complexity
• We don’t need to see the watch being made and the watch doesn’t need to be perfect to infer design

Question 4

How does Hume criticise Paley’s analogy?

Answer 4

• The universe is unique. We can’t assume it was designed as there was no one there to witness said design.
• It may prove some powerful being, at best. Why wouldn’t it be the Islamic God?

Question 5

Why do Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins reject the telelogical argument?

Answer 5

• Evolution provides the most significant challenge to design. If we were designed perfectly - why do we need to adapt?
• “Paley’s argument is made with passionate sincerity and is informed by the best biological scholarship of the day, but it is wrong, gloriously and utterly wrong” - Dawkins on the watchmaker analogy
• DNA negates the need for God. Christians have failed to adapt to this, making wild claims that the word “Jesus” is embedded into DNA

Question 6

What alternative did Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman provide to the telogical argument?

Answer 6

• Evolution can be used as empirical evidence to support God’s existence
• Evolution shows that God’s design is skillful.
• Science and religion are compatible

Question 7

Why does Newman’s approach fail to provide a credible alternative to the design argument?

Answer 7

He commits a God of the gaps fallacy by claiming God started evolution.

Question 8

Why do John Stewart Mill & John Mackie provide the most credible challenge to telology?

Answer 8

• The world is not designed to any degree of perfection.
• If the world was designed by God, God is inherently evil.

Question 9

What did Paley base his teleological argument on?

Answer 9

Observations of the natural world

Question 10

Why are Paley’s analogies weak and overall not credible?

Answer 10

Comparing man-made objects to the world is non sensical and unfair. Paley is grasping at straws.