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The Teleological Argument

Teleological arguments are arguments from the order in the universe to the existence of God. They are alsoknown as arguments from design (or, to be precise, arguments to design).

The name the teleological argument is derived from the Greek word telos, meaning end or purpose.When such arguments speak of the universe being ordered, they mean that it is ordered towards some endor purpose. The suggestion is that it is more plausible to suppose that the universe is so because it wascreated by an intelligent being in order to accomplish that purpose than it is to suppose that it is this wayby chance.


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The teleological argument was used by St Thomas Aquinas as one of his Five Ways of knowing that Godexists, but the most cited statement of the argument is that of William Paley. Paley likened the universe toa watch, with many ordered parts working in harmony to further some purpose. Just as the complexity,order, and purpose of a watch implies intelligent design, he suggested, so too the complexity, order, andpurpose of the universe implies intelligent design. The argument as he constructed it is thus an argumentfrom analogy.

Modern teleological arguments look somewhat different to that constructed by Paley. While Paley wasparticularly impressed by the appearance of design in biological systems, such as the eye, or animals,modern teleological arguments often find evidence of design in physics. Modern teleological argumentstend to focus on the fine-tuning in the universe, the fact that it is exactly as it needs to be (fine-tuned)to support life.

One advantage that this gives modern design arguments over Paleys is that they are less vulnerable toattacks based on evolution theory. It is an objection to Paleys argument that evolution can explain theappearance of biological design; evolutionary processes, though, do not apply to the laws of nature.

Although teleological arguments are often referred to as arguments from design, those who oppose sucharguments sometimes object to this. Antony Flew, in particular, has done this, repeatedly and pointedlycalling the argument the argument to design. Though he is no longer the vehement critic of the argumentthat he once was, having recently been persuaded that it might have merit, he continues to be a critic of thecommon name, insisting that it is it the argument to, not from, design.

If the universe contains design then there must be some intelligent agent that designed it. Although a fewdispute this, speaking of nature, or evolution, as our designers, this appears to be a simple linguistic truth.Just as if something is carried then there must be a carrier, so if there is design there must be a designer.

What those who reject the argument dispute, then, is not whether the design in the universe implies thatthere is someone who designed it, but whether the order and complexity in the universe does constitutedesign.

Copyright 2008 Tim Holt. All Rights Reserved

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