The Teleological Argument

Philosophy of Religion: Can We Prove That God Exists?

Philosophical Category: Teleology (argument from design)

William Paley (1743-1805)

• Experience is the order, design, and apparent purposefulness of the physical universe. This argument, usually called the teleological argument, or the argument from design, contends that God's existence is proven from a single experience.
• Remember that this argument is an argument from analogy and even if the argument is in deductive necessity, it doesn’t follow that it is a sound argument. Argument from analogy could pose possible problems.

 

The Teleological Argument:

1. Statement of the Argument

• The analogy of the watch. The point being made that if we were to stumble across a watch, we would know that it was created by a creator. Regardless of the fact that one might have never even met or known of watch makers, we would know that it is created by design to serve a function. He is comparing the creator of the watch and the watch itself, to God and God's creation.
• Regardless of this watch's imperfections, we know it is made by design.
• The more complex a structure of a machine, the more obscure will the ultimate effect of its imperfection.
• The internal design and combination of material forms in the watch are not random (it's made by design to fit all other parts for it to function).
• There is a principle order of which that dispose the parts of the watch into their present form and situation.

2. Application of the Argument

• Every indication that something is made by design, every purpose and manifestation of its design, all these  which existed in  the watch, exists in the works of nature.
• The difference on the side of nature is that nature is more complex and far greater. To the degree that it is beyond computation of any sort.

MY PERSONAL OBJECTION:

The order and complexity of the universe far exceeds that of a watch, and we may therefore infer that the designer of the universe is correspondingly greater than designers of watches. One objection to this argument is that the analogy between a watch and the universe is too weak to support the inference to a designer of the universe. Another objection is that arguments from analogy are too limited in the kinds of conclusion that they can support, and so force those who use them into an anthropomorphism (the attribution of a human form, human characteristics, or human behavior to nonhuman things) that is inconsistent with theism. A further problem is that the principle that ordered complexity implies a designer applies no more to the universe than it does to God, begging the question: Who created God?