Teleological Essay Philos
What are the main strengths and weaknesses of the teleological argument for the existence of God?
The original teleological argument was developed by Aquinas in which he used his fifth way to prove the existence of God. The teleological argument is an a posteriori argument which looks at design in our world in order to prove God’s existence. Aquinas’ fifth way stated that everything operates as to a design, this design being God. Aquinas developed this to say that this operative design follows certain natural laws and therefore God is necessary to provide purpose and cause to these laws.
John Stuart Mill reacted in counter to Aquinas, stating that it seems inhumane that we have a world which supposedly achieves a ‘purpose’ yet features so much evil. Mill is raising the popular point of the problem of evil within our world, leading us to question how some ‘ultimate being’ could have strived to design a world where the amount of suffering far outweighs the amount of goodness. Paley explained that just as a watch with its intricate design must have a designer, then nature with its far superior design must have a grand designer this being God. In response to Mills criticisms about the purpose of God, it may be that Paley and Aquinas’ theories are concerned with features of design in our world to prove the existence of God and were not yet concerned with the problems and flaws within nature.
David Hume rebuked against Paley’s watch analogy by stating that you cannot compare something inorganic like a watch to our organic world as it is incomparable and therefore an invalid argument. Further stating that our worlds complexities are far more superior than the design of a watch and it is for this reason that Paley’s analogy is irrelevant. A more realistic argument for design was put forward by scientist Isaac Newton who argued that the fact we all have individual thumbprints completely different from everyone else is so complex it must need a designer.
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The original teleological argument was developed by Aquinas in which he used his fifth way to prove the existence of God. The teleological argument is an a posteriori argument which looks at design in our world in order to prove God’s existence. Aquinas’ fifth way stated that everything operates as to a design, this design being God. Aquinas developed this to say that this operative design follows certain natural laws and therefore God is necessary to provide purpose and cause to these laws.
John Stuart Mill reacted in counter to Aquinas, stating that it seems inhumane that we have a world which supposedly achieves a ‘purpose’ yet features so much evil. Mill is raising the popular point of the problem of evil within our world, leading us to question how some ‘ultimate being’ could have strived to design a world where the amount of suffering far outweighs the amount of goodness. Paley explained that just as a watch with its intricate design must have a designer, then nature with its far superior design must have a grand designer this being God. In response to Mills criticisms about the purpose of God, it may be that Paley and Aquinas’ theories are concerned with features of design in our world to prove the existence of God and were not yet concerned with the problems and flaws within nature.
David Hume rebuked against Paley’s watch analogy by stating that you cannot compare something inorganic like a watch to our organic world as it is incomparable and therefore an invalid argument. Further stating that our worlds complexities are far more superior than the design of a watch and it is for this reason that Paley’s analogy is irrelevant. A more realistic argument for design was put forward by scientist Isaac Newton who argued that the fact we all have individual thumbprints completely different from everyone else is so complex it must need a designer.
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