ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD- Teleological Argument

"The ozone layer is mighty proof of the Creator's forethought"

Arthur Brown- teleological argument

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Frederick Tennant's two principles

Anthropic Principle and Aesthetic Principle

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Anthropic Principle

The way the world is, and how humans are, is best explained by God's guiding intelligence behind creation

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Tennant's Aesthetic Argument

There's no need for beauty in the world unless it's been put there by God for our enjoyment

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Tennant quote re Aesthetic principle

"our scientific knowledge of the universe brings us no nearer to understanding the beauty of music" Explanation:- Nature is meaningless w/o God behind it and man in front

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Criticism of Anthropic principle

Humans find order in creation, but it doesn't mean that there IS order, simply that it is apparent

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Analogy by Aquinas

Arrow/Archer analogy- The arrow cannot fire itself, it needs an 'intelligent force' behind it. In the same way, there needs to be an 'intelligent' force behind the design of the universe.

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Which of Aquinas's Ways is the design argument?

5th way

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Argument from Spatial Order

(Paley) The universe is designed because everything in it such as plants and humans seem to have a design

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Swinburne's rejection of the Argument from Spatial Order

Swinburne believes that science can explain the world hence the ASO is rendered

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'Teleological argument from the temporal order of the world'

The universe is orderly, yet it could be chaotic. Temporal order is a necessary condition of beauty, hence the temporal order of the universe supports the idea of a God because the God in monotheistic religions would have reason to create this uverse

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Quote by Swinburne

"The earth is too finely tuned to be like this on its own"

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A link between Tennant and Swinburne

They both argue not exactly from the design of the world, but the BEAUTY of it, and human ability to appreciate it

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Irreducible Complexity

Michael Behe- in complex systems, individual parts can only work when other systems are already in place. Due to the way that the universe seems to work together like a machine, there must have been a designer or there'd be parts that don't work

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Criticisms (2) of Irreducible Complexity

1) There ARE parts of the universe that don't work- therefore contradicts the nature of God or the idea of a plan. 2)Evolutionary biologists- the universe may have just evolved to work as it does

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Dawkins' criticism of the Design argument (specifically Aesthetic)

Cultural inheritance- dominant genes from those before us are passed down. Our appreciation for aesthetics is therefore part of natural selection, not a designer

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Quote by Paley

"Intricacies within nature could not have come about by chance"

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Hume's Criticism of Paley

A cause need only be proportional to its effect therefore we cannot argue from this limited world to an infinite or perfect designer. The things which Paley argues from and too are therefore too different

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Ayer's Criticism of Paley

It is meaningless to say that the world has been designed because we don't know what 'designed' actually looks like

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Hume's Criticism of the Design Argument

To argue that this world has a designer we would have to prove that other worlds have designers, but this is the only world we know therefore we have no reason to assume that worlds in general have designers

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Type of argument which the teleological argument is

A posteriori inductive

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Gerald Schroeder

Orthodox jewish physicist. Science and the bible can go together if the bible is understood symbolically. eg "let there be light" = separation of photons in early moments

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Hume quote

"God exceeds all analogy and comprehension

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ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD- Teleological Argument

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