Teleological Argument

Teleological argument or the argument from design is based upon observation of the world Teleological argument or the argument from design is based upon observation of the world It is not an argument designed to prove the existence of God but one which says God must exist i.e. human eye so complex there must be a Designer It is not an argument designed to prove the existence of God but one which says God must exist i.e. human eye so complex there must be a Designer This is a posteriori statement This is a posteriori statement

Teleological Argument Arguments from analogy Arguments from analogy William Paley ( ) William Paley ( ) ‘The Watchmaker’

Teleological Argument Arguments from analogy Arguments from analogy What do you think about Paley’s analogy? Is it a good analogy? Are the underlying assumptions correct?

Teleological Argument Criticisms Weak analogy – weak conclusions Charles Darwin – Origin of the Species (1859)

Teleological Argument Further problems 1) Warburton (p.14) says argument does not support monotheism (Gen 1:26?)

Teleological Argument Further problems 2) Is Warburton’s analogy on human constructors a good one?

Teleological Argument Further problems 3) Warburton also cites body decay to show why God cannot be considered all-powerful (p.14) How could this be rebutted?

Teleological Argument Further problems 4) The problem of Evil makes belief in a compassionate God difficult. Do you agree with him?

Teleological Argument Further problems 4) The problem of Evil: where does he get his definition of God from?

Teleological Argument Further problems 4) The problem of Evil: how could this be rebutted?

Teleological Argument Further problems 5) Hume says it is possible that matter is self-ordering and not ordered by a maker at all. We will only ever see the things that work well and assume design – we will not see failures

Teleological Argument Further problems 6) Hume – it is impossible to draw conclusions about a whole thing by just looking at part of it. We need to see the big picture

Teleological Argument Further problems 7) Hume – the design of the world does not show the kind of God people are looking for. How could this be rebutted?

Anthropic Principle Anthropic Principle or Fine Tuning Argument The chances of right conditions for life are so small that God must have controlled it and hence – exists. This is supported by scientific evidence

Anthropic Principle Anthropic Principle or Fine Tuning Argument Criticisms Warburton offers national lottery analogy (p.16) Is this a good analogy?

Anthropic Principle Anthropic Principle or Fine Tuning Argument Criticisms Warburton states that life exists not because someone engineered the right conditions but because the right conditions were already present (p16)

Teleological Argument Task (p.44)