Download Teleological modern Versions

Homework : Key cards
Key Words
Key Quotations
Starter: key Word Bingo
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Teleological
A priori
A posteriori
Inductive
Deductive
Theistic argument
Analogical argument
Empirical
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Chronology tsk
Lesson Aim
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To learn about modern versions of the
design argument.
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason:
“ This proof always deserves to be mentioned
with respect. It is the oldest, the clearest,
and the most accordant with the common
reason of mankind”.
Discuss and comment on the meaning of this
quotation:
Implication: Great appeal had attention paid to
it in the contemporary period.
Modern versions of the Design
Argument
F. R. Tennant (1866-1957)
Philosophical Theology (1930)
 It is possible to imagine a chaotic universe, where
there are no rules.
 The universe is evidently not chaotic. In fact, it
appears to be designed to support life. Further, it
appears to be beautiful at all levels.
 Evolution itself proposed by biologists as an
unregulated principle, in fact works to the
advancement of species, supported by a world that
provides all that is necessary to promote life.
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There is more to life than mere existence. Humans
appreciate aesthetic activity, such as art, music, and
literature. This is not necessary for mere survival, so
cannot have come about through natural selection.
Therefore, life as we know it is the product of a
designing creator.
This last part of Tennant’s argument is sometimes
called the aesthetic argument.
Tennant also formulated the Anthropic Principle or
argument to design (the purpose of the universe’s
existence is the support of human life – evolutionary
theory strengthens this argument).
Richard Swinburne in The Existence of
God (1979).
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Attempted to defend argument from design in the
contemporary period.
The universe could easily be either ordered or
chaotic.
The fact that it appears ordered cannot be mere
chance.
It must therefore be a matter of probabilities.
The sheer size of the universe makes it unlikely that
it should just ‘happen’.
Further, the universe appears to operate by a series
of laws.
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These laws do not account for the apparently
ordered way in which the universe operates.
“In scientific explanations we explain particular phenomena as
brought about by prior phenomena in accordance with scientific
laws… from the very nature of science it cannot explain the
highest level laws at all; for they are that by which it explains all
other phenomena.”
Swinburne, R. The Existence of God, 1979, p. 138
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Swinburne argued that the high degree
of order that the universe demonstrates
is evidence of a personal, conscious
choice of God.
Colour coding:
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Pg. 20-25 Tyler – or notes if done so.
Update cards – 1-2 quotations from Swinburne.
- 2 key words: Aesthetic argument and Anthropic
Principle.
Read ahead pg. 17-19 – Criticisms Dawkins/D.
Hume/Problem Evil and Suffering/J.S.Mill. Evidence –
update key cards – key word? 2 quotations key
thinkers.