Argument summary chart
ARGUMENT: TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT A Posteriori … Inductive… Synthetic
Key Phrase: There is design and order in the universe there must be a God to design it
Scholars
Main Points
Proponents Arguments;
Proponents;


Aquinas 1225-1274 –
Summa Theologica
Paley 1743-1805 –
Natural Theology
Challengers;
 Hume – Dialogues
Concerning Natural
Religion
 Mill
 Darwin - The Origin
of Species (&
Dawkins whose book
‘The blind
Watchmaker’ is a
play on Paley’s
watch)
Aquinas
Five Ways (5th) - design & purpose (ref.
Foundation topic)
 Everything has goal directed behaviour
 Arrow analogy – arrow lacks awareness, but
is directed by an archer.
 Paley
 Watch analogy;
If a person finds a watch they will realise that it is ordered for a purpose
The watch was designed for a purpose and so a watch-maker must exist.
The world is analogous to the watch
 Eye analogy (& other natural examples)
 Design qua purpose / regularity
Challengers;
MILL
1. The world is imperfect and full of natural evil.
2. This suggests a cruel or incompetent designer.
3. Therefore, God is not ‘All Good’ OR God is not ‘All Powerful’
4. Mill maintains God’s goodness
5. So concludes that God is limited in power.
HUME
Argument of ‘Flaws’;
1. World is faulty and imperfect e.g., natural disasters.
2. Suggests inadequacy on God’s part.
Argument of ‘Cause & Effect’;
1. Order does not necessarily imply design.
2. It is either the result of design or chance.
3. So, it is possible the universe arose from chance (similar effects
could have a different cause, not intelligent designer)
Argument of ‘Many Gods’;
The universe may be the work of an apprentice or many designers
Argument of ‘Limited Evidence / Experience’;
We only know of world, it may be in a long line of faulty designs
Argument of ‘Unsound Analogy’;
Argument rests on analogies; especially the similarity between
manmade objects and nature.
Resemblance is not close enough and so the argument is weak.
Why must ‘intelligence’ regulate things, there are other governing
principles including gravity, generation.
DARWIN
 The design due to evolution through natural selection
DAWKINS (current evolutionist)
 Supports / develops Darwin’s views, sees apparent
design as natural - on a genetic level


Quotes/ examples
Strengths
Strengths of the argument
Weaknesses
Weaknesses (Paley)
Paley;
After listing examples of complex design
in nature Paley says….
The most simple account of this, it to
refer it to a designing creator.’
1. Easy to understand
2. Starts with what we
know
3. Uses a range of
examples in nature
4. Makes a clear analogy
between the watch and
the world
5. Appeals to a human
instinct that there must
be a designer God.
Darwin;
ALSO SEE PROPONENTS
ARGUMENTS
1. Had little evidence
about what the overall
purpose of the relation
in nature is.
2. Makes too much of a
jump form a designer
to God.
3. Analogy is limited
because the watch is
one thing and the
world includes
everything; watch is
mechanical and world
is natural; watch is a
repetitive system and
world can evolve and
change.
4. He is not aware of
evolution, which is an
alternative
explanation of the
world.
Aquinas;
"...as the arrow is directed by the archer."
"…some intelligent being exists by whom
all natural things are directed to their
end; and this being we call God"
Order due to natural selection “a blind
unconscious, automatic process” without
purpose.
ALSO SEE
CHALLENGERS
ARGUMENTS