Unit 2 - Nature of reality: Design argument

Question 1

What are the four main arguments for the existence of God?

Answer 1

• The design argument or teleological argument
• The anthropic principle
• The first cause or cosmological argument
• The moral argument

Question 2

What does the design argument believe?

Answer 2

• Observation of the natural world reveals an order and complexity that could only have been achieved through intelligent design.
• Instead of coming into existence through a chain of natural events, the world is the result of design by an intelligent being who is God
• Humans cannot create such complex design

Question 3

How does the design argument prove to people God’s existence?

Answer 3

• The fascination and awe created by observation of the natural world can be a revelation for some people
• Recognising the intricacy and complexity of the natural world may move people to belief in a designer God

Question 4

What is another name for the design argument?

Answer 4

The teleological argument

Question 5

Who is William Paley and what did he believe?

Answer 5

• Philosopher
• He used the example of a watch to explain the argument from design
• He said that the way in which all the parts of a watch work together to meet a purpose suggests that the watch must have a designer
• Such order and purpose couldn’t be simply the result of an accident
• In the same way, if you look at the world and the way nature appears to work to meet a purpose, it suggests that the world must have a designer who is God.

Question 6

Why did John Stuart Mill disagree with Paley?

Answer 6

• He examined the way nature operates
• Mill pointed to the cruelty that’s part of the natural order of things
• e.g. certain animals being efficient killers and certain creatures living on other animals
• Faults in the Earth’s structure happen like earthquakes or volcanic eruptions
• This is evidence of bad design in nature
• If a designer God existed, He would in fact be a cruel God
• His creation brings all kinds of pain and suffering
• People wouldn’t want to worship a God who would design such a world

Question 7

Examples of intricate, complex parts of nature

Answer 7

• The complexity of a butterfly
• The beauty of the ocean
• HOW RED BLOOD CELLS ARE A BICONCAVE SHAPE SO THEY HAVE A LARGER SURFACE AREA TO ABSORB OXYGEN AS FAST AS POSSIBLE
• How the waves just stop at the sand’s shore
• Biological structure of the human body
• Intricacy of DNA
• Detail of a leaf
• The originality of a human fingerprint
• How the sun is at the exact distance from the Earth so we don’t die
• Regularity of the moon

Question 8

Keywords for this argument

Answer 8

• Intricacy
• Complexity
• Regularity
• Originality
• Awe
• Fascination

Question 9

SWA for the design argument

Answer 9

NOG: God is omnipotent and powerful enough to create the world ex-nihilo and only He is able to invent such intricate design.

Question 10

What is an a posteriori argument?

Answer 10

Based on observations of the world around us.

Question 11

What is an a priori argument?

Answer 11

Based on facts.

Question 12

Is this an a posteriori or an a priori argument?

Answer 12

A posteriori

Question 13

What is an inductive argument?

Answer 13

Tries to persuade not prove.

Question 14

What is a deductive argument?

Answer 14

Based on more than one premise that reaches a conclusion.