L ECTURE 17: T HE T ELEOLOGICAL A RGUMENT AND C AUSALITY

T ODAY ’ S L ECTURE In Today’s Lecture we will: 1.Continue our investigation into the philosophy of religion 2.Consider another a posteriori argument for the existence of God: The Teleological Argument 3.Discuss and critique a variation of the teleological argument: Paley’s Watch Analogy 4.Investigate Kant and Hume’s criticisms of the teleological and cosmological arguments for God’s existence

T HE T ELEOLOGICAL A RGUMENT

T ELEOLOGICAL A RGUMENT Key Features of the Teleological Argument: Argues that the universe must have had an intelligent creator Teleological/Telos is Greek for purpose or design o Begins with an a posteriori observation o Both Paley and Aquinas use observation, logic and analogy to make the case for an intelligent creator o Aquinas uses the analogy of an arrow in his argument o Paley uses the analogy of a watchmaker in his argument o Intelligent design argues that we need some idea of intelligent causes to explain complex biological features of the world o Theistic evolution attempts to reconcile the theory of evolution with the idea that God created the world

T HE T ELEOLOGICAL A RGUMENT Version 1: Aquinas We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that not fortuitously, but designedly, do they achieve their end. Now whatever lacks intelligence cannot move toward an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is shot to its mark by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God. -Thomas Aquinas, pp

T ELEOLOGICAL A RGUMENT Version 2: Paley’s Watch Analogy (pp ) The world is to God as a watch is to a watchmaker Suppose you are walking through a field and you accidentally find a watch The watch’s function is to keep time by means of cogs and other intricate components. But where did the watch come from? o It is unlikely that it just accidentally appeared from nowhere (it is too complicated) o The watch must have been made by a watchmaker By analogy, Paley argues: o Nature is more complicated than a watch o Therefore the universe must have been made by an intelligent creator; god

T ELEOLOGICAL A RGUMENT Version 3: Intelligent Design (p.265) Intelligent causes are necessary to explain complex biological structures 1.There is a fundamental distinction between undirected natural causes and intelligent causes 2.Intelligent causes can do things which undirected natural causes cannot 3.Intelligent causes can be empirically detected and distinguished from undirected natural causes 4.Information underlies all intelligent causes 5.Therefore, where there is information there is intelligence 6.Intelligent design traces pathways of intelligence back to their origin 7.Intelligent design limits itself to detecting intelligence without stating what that intelligence is

T ELEOLOGICAL A RGUMENT Version 4: Theistic Evolution (pp ) Is the theory of evolution compatible with the concept of God? o Darwin showed that the existence of complex biological systems can be explained by his theory of evolution o According to the theory of evolution; complex biological systems are the result of a long process of gradual modifications brought about by Natural Selection o Some thinkers (E.g. Dawkins) argue that the theory of evolution and God are incompatible o Evolution appears to suggest that we can have complexity without an intelligent designer (Contra Paley) o Evolution challenges the Biblical view that Humans and all the creatures of the Earth were formed in seven days

T ELEOLOGICAL A RGUMENT Version 4: Theistic Evolution (Cont.) Is the theory of evolution compatible with the concept of God? o Theologians (such as F.R. Tennant) argue that the theory of evolution and God are compatible o The fact that complex organisms are the result of a long process of gradual modifications does not preclude the idea of design o Therefore, evolution does not prove that God did not create the universe o Tennant suggests that Humans are the pinnacle of the evolutionary ‘ladder’ o The theory of evolution therefore appears to have an end or purpose (wider teleology) beyond mere mechanical natural processes o The theory of evolution is therefore fully compatible with the concept of God

C AUSATION

The attack on Causality The cosmological and teleological arguments both rely on the concept of causality Cosmological argument If every event has a cause there must be a first cause Teleological argument If there is complexity/purpose there must be an intelligent cause In both arguments God is used as a transcendent (outside of time and space) first cause

C AUSATION Criticisms against the teleological and cosmological argument David Hume (pp ) Is there any need for a beginning of a series of causes? It cannot be proved a priori that every event has a cause Suggests that the concepts of beginning, middle, end may be entirely human: we can always imagine an earlier event Unless we observe or experience anything to the contrary; we cannot claim that the world has a first cause or an external cause Both arguments felicitously apply the concept of causation to the concept of God See Hume, David. Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (New York: Hafner, 1960)

C AUSATION Criticisms against the teleological and cosmological argument Immanuel Kant (pp ) Both arguments mistakenly extend the concept of causality beyond its valid sphere Kant views the concept of causality as a necessary feature of human experience But! causality only applies to the world of the senses; both arguments fallaciously try to extend this concept beyond its valid realm We cannot claim that an infinite series of causes is impossible; we cannot make this claim from experience or extend this principle beyond experience The concept of causality cannot apply to God