1.4.2
The Teleological Argument - Paley & Evolution
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William Paley's Design Argument
William Paley uses the complexity of design in his argument.
Paley's design argument
- If someone found a rock on the ground, they would not need to ask how the rock got there – they would assume natural causes.
- But if someone found a watch on the ground, the previous answer would not work – that the watch had always been there. They would assume a designer.
- This is because of the complexity and inherent purpose of the watch – it has been put together in a complex manner to tell the time.
- The universe is much more complex and ordered. So the universe must have a designer.
Counter-teleological arguments
- Both teleological arguments ‘beg the question’.
- Aquinas assumes all things need a designer to conclude that God designed everything.
- Paley gives the example of a watch, something which we know has been designed, as an analogy for the world, whose design is the thing in question.
- Hume said that analogy can only compare similar things. The watch is not similar to the universe. As the universe seems organic, why not compare something organic, like a cabbage?
Counter-teleological arguments
- The universe is not like all the other things we can experience.
- A watch has many designers usually – why not the universe?
- The universe could have come about randomly and still look designed, given enough time. Philo's Epicurean hypothesis (the world is the chance arrangements of atoms) is relevant.
- The presence of evil and suffering in the universe prompts us to ask what kind of designer it has.
- Eg. Dawkins’ Digger Wasp example (a particularly cruel example of suffering in the natural world).
Evolutionary Challenges to the Design Argument
There are some major challenges that Darwin’s theory of evolution has thrown up against the design argument. Here are the most important:
Complexity and order are natural
- Random changes can lead to order and complex systems can be self-arranging – this is the upshot of the nature of evolution, in which organisms which adapt to their environments can pass on their genes more effectively than ones that can’t.
- So there is no need to appeal to a divine intelligence to account for complexity and ‘order’ – they arise ‘naturally’ from the processes of evolution and natural selection.
Suffering in evolutionary processes
- Dawkins and Atkins point to profound suffering and cruelty in the processes of evolution.
- For example, the female digger wasp lays her eggs in a caterpillar so that the larva can eat the insides as they grow. She also stings it to paralyse it so it is alive as they are eating it
No need for a goal
- Evolution challenges the Aristotelian account of causation which includes telos or purpose as it shows that natural processes can be explained without the need to refer to a goal.
1Philosophy of Religion
1.1Ancient Philosophical Influences: Plato
1.2Ancient Philosophical Influences: Aristotle
1.3Ancient Philosophical Influences: Soul, Mind, Body
1.4The Existence of God - Arguments from Observation
1.5The Existence of God - Arguments from Reason
1.6Religious Experience
1.7The Problem of Evil
1.8The Nature & Attributes of God
1.9Religious Language: Negative, Analogical, Symbolic
2Religion & Ethics
2.1Natural Law
2.2Situation Ethics
2.3Kantian Ethics
2.4Utilitarianism
2.5Euthanasia
2.6Business Ethics
2.7Meta-Ethical Theories
2.8Conscience
3Developments in Christian Thought
3.1Saint Augustine's Teachings
3.2Death & the Afterlife
3.3Knowledge of God's Existence
3.4The Person of Jesus Christ
3.5Christian Moral Principles
3.6Christian Moral Action
3.7Development - Pluralism & Theology
3.8Development - Pluralism & Society
3.9Gender & Society
3.10Gender & Theology
Jump to other topics
1Philosophy of Religion
1.1Ancient Philosophical Influences: Plato
1.2Ancient Philosophical Influences: Aristotle
1.3Ancient Philosophical Influences: Soul, Mind, Body
1.4The Existence of God - Arguments from Observation
1.5The Existence of God - Arguments from Reason
1.6Religious Experience
1.7The Problem of Evil
1.8The Nature & Attributes of God
1.9Religious Language: Negative, Analogical, Symbolic
2Religion & Ethics
2.1Natural Law
2.2Situation Ethics
2.3Kantian Ethics
2.4Utilitarianism
2.5Euthanasia
2.6Business Ethics
2.7Meta-Ethical Theories
2.8Conscience
3Developments in Christian Thought
3.1Saint Augustine's Teachings
3.2Death & the Afterlife
3.3Knowledge of God's Existence
3.4The Person of Jesus Christ
3.5Christian Moral Principles
3.6Christian Moral Action
3.7Development - Pluralism & Theology
3.8Development - Pluralism & Society
3.9Gender & Society
3.10Gender & Theology
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