Discuss the teleological argument for the existence of God. How viable is this argument?

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RS-110                                          Philosophy of Religion                               Alex Glover

Discuss the teleological argument for the existence of God. How viable is this argument?

The teleological argument is a classical argument for the existence of God, which is often referred to as the argument from design. It is the most empirical and least technical of all the arguments for the existence of God. The teleological argument derives from the Greek word ‘telos’ which translates as ‘end or purpose.’ The argument is based upon the examination of the nature of the world; the main thrust of the argument is therefore that the world is too complex and well ordered to have been produced by chance or random change. This being so, it is argued that God is the only being responsible.

“The Teleological argument for the existence of God begins with the premise that the world exhibits intelligent purpose or order, and it proceeds to the conclusion that there must be or probably is a divine intelligence, a supreme designer, to account for the observed or perceived intelligent purpose or order.” (Pojman, 1993)

The argument has been put forward in a variety of formats, from classical to contemporary, such as Aquinas’ “fifth way;” The argument from simple analogy; Paley’s watch argument; The argument from guided evolution; The argument from irreducible biochemical complexity; The argument from biological information and the fine-tuning argument. It has also been delivered from sources such as, Plato, Cicero (De Natura Deorum) and in the Bible: Romans Chapter 1,

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." (Romans 1:19-20)

According to Davies in his book, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (1993) “The operation of the universe must be somehow controlled or caused by intelligence. And this idea is at the heart of all versions of the argument from design.” (P94). When analysing the argument from design, one has to consider why does the universe make people think that there is a God? The answer simply consists of two distinguishing different understandings of design: regularity and purpose.

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 Regularity Design according to Davies would be, “A succession of regular marks on paper, a musical score, an arrangement of flowers in a garden at Versailles, or the repeated and predictable operations of an artefact of some kind (e.g. a clock which chimes every hour).” Purpose Design would be an object that has been created for a particular purpose or action; this is evident in the work of William Paley (1743-1805). He wrote in his book ‘Natural Theology: Or Evidences of the Existence and attributes of the Deity Collected from the Appearances of Nature’ (1802) a comparison of the world to ...

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