Richard Swinburne's Teleological Argument

others believe that different species can arise from existing species but the original species were put into being in a supernatural way” (55). Some think the creation event happened very recently, within historical times thousands of millions of years before present day. It should be emphasized that amongst the scientific community it really is only a tiny potion who consider a

William Paley and David Hume’s argument over God’s existence is known as the teleological argument, or the argument from design. Arguments from design are arguments concerning God or some type of creator’s existence based on the ideas of order or purpose in universe. Hume takes on the approach of arguing against the argument of design, while Paley argues for it. Although Hume and Paley both provide very strong arguments, a conclusion will be drawn at the end to distinguish which philosophiser holds a stronger position. Throughout this essay I will be examining arguments with reference to their work from Paley’s “The Watch and the Watchmaker” and Hume’s “The Critique of the Teleological Argument”.

Therefore: (5) God exists. It has been argued that this argument does not lead to the idea of God, but that it suggests that motion requires an explanation, E.g. Big Bang Theory. The Teleological Argument, or Design Argument attempts to prove the existence of God by way of the nature, beauty and order of the world. To say the world is 'ordered' is to mean that it is ordered towards some end or purpose.

Todd C. Moody’s book “Does God Exist?” deals with a debate on God’s existence. This debate is done through a three-way dialogue between friends Sophie, David and Oscar. In the book, David defends God’s existence while Oscar defends the opposite position. Woody describes the burden of proof as being “on the person who claims anything that is either contrary to or beyond common sense,” (Woody 5). The idea of a God is indeed beyond common sense.

In contrast to the classical arguments for the existence of God, namely the ontological, cosmological and teleological arguments, the argument from religious experience doesn’t just entail a set logical of points arriving at a conclusion on a piece of paper, rather it also necessitates sense-based experience, tangible to the individual who experiences the divine.

During the 1800th century, William Paley, an English philosopher of religion and ethics, wrote the essay The Argument from Design. In The Argument from Design, Paley tries to prove the existence of a supreme being through the development of a special kind of argument known as the teleological argument. The teleological argument is argument by analogy, an argument based on the similarities between two different subjects. This essay purposefully attempts to break down Paley’s argument and does so in the following manner: firstly, Paley’s basis for the teleological argument is introduced; secondly, Paley’s argument is derived and analyzed; thirdly, the connection between Paley’s argument and the existence of a supreme being is made; and

The traditional God in the Judeo-Christian tradition is known to be as an “Omni-God” possessing particular divine attributes such as omniscient, which means he knows everything he is also omnipotent, or all powerful. God has also been said to be also he is omnipresence which means he exists in all places and present everywhere, however there are many philosophical arguments on whether if any of that is actually true or if there is a God at all. This paper argues that it is not possible to know whether the traditional God exists or not. While there have been philosophers such as Aquinas, Anselm, Paley and Kierkegaard who are for god and present strong argument, likewise philosopher like Nietzsche and arguments like the problem of evil both make valid point on why God isn’t real.

“The main lesson of biogeography is that only evolution can explain the diversity of life on continents and islands.” (Coyne 109).In convergent evolution 3 of the six components discussed in chapter 1 are working together. These 3 components are common ancestry, speciation, and natural selection. If evolution did exist, ancestors of species today that lived in the same place, when dug up, should be fossils that resemble organisms today.

In "On the Nature of Things," Lucretius argues that not a single thing can be created from nothing. Generally, Lucretius explains that the gods are not responsible for creation and that everything originally came from a fixed seed. In this paper, I will argue that Lucretius' argument becomes ineffective because no living organism came from a designated substance, but through the process of evolution.

In the article “ On Being an Atheist,” H.J. McCloskey attempts to inform his readers that the belief in atheism is a “much more comfortable belief” by effectively using a disdainful rhetoric towards theists and their faith. McCloskey delves into both the Cosmological and Teleological arguments, which within he criticizes the arguments and to further his argument against theism, he also presents the Problem of Evil and why evil cannot possibly exist with a perfect God being the creator of universe. What will be displayed in this essay are the counter-arguments to McCloskey’s criticisms and the attempt to discredit his claims that regard the “comfortable” position that lies within atheism and its arguments.

To begin, Richard Swinburne starts his paper by defining the two teleological arguments: spatial orders and temporal orders, which he refers to as regularities of co-presence and regularities of succession, respectively. He gives insight as to how eighteenth century philosophers were drawn to regularities of co-presence. They argued by first acknowledging plants and animals have come about from generations of reproduction. But since the universe doesn’t have an infinite past, some higher power must have been the one to create these animals and plants. The initial argument made was reconstructed to dispel any challengers in biology, such as Darwin. The argument was then reconstructed to say the laws of nature make nature itself is a “machine-making machine”. Its parts create more complex parts by adapting to changes in the environment. Swinburne states this reconstruction is better than what it was in its former state, though it isn’t strong, which I agree with. The scarcity of complex organisms throughout our universe do not serve as enough evidence to make the statement that a creator of nature created nature with the idea in mind that nature would produce machine-making machines. As far as we know, Earth is the only planet with significant signs of

As a teleological argument, Paley’s argument for the existence of God can be distilled as: (1) everything has a purpose, (2) creators define a thing’s purpose, so (3) therefore everything has a creator. After making his argument, Paley refutes eight common objections to his argument including the objections that not witnessing an object’s creation means it was not created and that imperfection of creation means that there was not a creator.

Further continuation of the theory comes from their explanation about the goal of evolution—“to elaborate and diversify the biota

The existence of God is a question that has troubled and plagued mankind since it began to consider logic. Is there a God? How can we be sure that God exists? Can you prove to me that He is real? Does His existence, or lack thereof, make a significant difference? These loaded questions strike at the heart of human existence. But the real question is, can we answer any of them? These questions are answered in the arguments of St. Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal and St. Anselm of Canterbury. For thousands of years, theologians, philosophers and scientists have been trying to prove or disprove God’s existence. Many, including the three mentioned above, have strong proofs and theories that attempt to confirm God’s existence. Although, without any scientific evidence, how can they be entirely sure? “Philosophical proofs can be good proofs, but they do not have to be scientific proofs,” (Kreeft). Gravity similar to God’s existence ; it cannot be seen nor explained, yet it still exists. With faith, reason, understanding and even some math, God’s existence can be verified rationally.

The essay topic above raises two main areas of attention in need of address. These two areas being; the ontological argument and what it is, and secondly, whether or not this argument is successful in arriving at the conclusion of god’s existence. To do the latter, I must first state the argument and what it is.