Teleological Argument for the Existence of God Essay

This paper will examine the argument put forward by William Paley in 1802, in his Natural Theology. Paley offers an argument from design that purports to show a clear and distinct reason why one should hold a belief in God, due to the inherent features of the world. It is attempted in this paper to firstly: show that the argument should be rejected on the grounds of lacking a rationally flowing set of premises and conclusions; and secondly: that the criticisms made by David Hume concerning the argument hold more weight than is generally granted by other philosophers, and should have convinced one even before the advent of Darwinian theory. Added to this, it will be considered as to whether or not Darwin actually did destroy†¦show more content†¦Roughly speaking, teleological arguments are those that appeal to the special features, or aspects, of the world that appear to be designed and purposive, analogous to the cases of human design. For example, one might consider com plex biological systems such as eyes, digestive or reproductive structures, and so on. They are usually put probabilistically, arguing that the most plausible explanation is that of a world designer and creator -- one with intelligence and purposes. It is not clear that Paleys argument was intended to be just so, but more on this at a later stage. Paleys argument is quite simple in essence and is presented in a somewhat poetic and rather imaginative way. Paley first imagines what sort of thoughts one would have stumbling across a rock. He concludes that no-one should be surprised at the presence of the rock, and that it hardly requires a specific explanation: it would be quite plausible to assume that the rock just was, and had always been. The discovery of the rock is then compared to the finding of a watch. Paley claims that one should immediately recognise it as the work of an intelligent designer, even if one had never seen a watch before. He makes the claim that by the watchs very intrinsic make-up it could clearly be concluded the intentional construction of an intelligent designer: the variousShow MoreRelatedExplain the Teleological Arguments for the Existence of God Essay1268 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Teleological arguments The word teleological originates from the Greek ‘telos’ meaning end or purpose. It infers the existence of God from a particular aspect or character of the world, namely the presence of order, regularity and purpose, and thus, is most commonly known as the design argument; it postulates the idea of a designer for all that has been designed. As its name suggests, the teleological argument attempts to seek the ultimate end or purpose. Furthermore, the teleological argumentRead MoreExamine the Key Features of the Teleological Argument?1491 Words   |  6 PagesExamine the key features of the Teleological argument. The word teleological comes from the Greek word ‘Telos’ which means purpose. 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