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Arguments based on Observation Summary for Philosophy Alevel
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Arguments based on observationTeleological Looking at the end results in order to draw a conclusion about
what is right or wrong
Cosmological To do with the universe
Natural theology Drawing conclusions about the nature and activity of God by
using reason and observing the world
Contingent Dependent on other things
Principle of Sufficient The principle that everything must have a reason to explain it
Reason
Sceptic Someone who will not accept what others say without
questioning or challenging
A posteriori Arguments which draw conclusions based on observation
arguments through experience
Necessary existence Existence which does not depend on anything else
A priori arguments Arguments which draw conclusions through the use of reason
Logical fallacy Reasoning that has a flaw in its structure
Most arguments for the existence of God are examples of a posteriori reasoning; which
means that they depend on experience and observation in order to support their
conclusions. They start with something we can observe, and go from there, using that
experience as evidence from which to draw a conclusion.
In contrast, there is also a priori reasoning, which relies purely on logic and is independent of
experience. The kind of reasoning found in mathematics is a priori.
Teleological arguments attempt to demonstrate the existence of God from the evidence of
order and purpose in the world around us. They reason that we would not complex,
purposeful features in the world unless there was a divine intelligence who designed those
features.
Cosmological arguments try to demonstrate the existence of God by asking why the
universe exists, and why everything in it does too. The best explanation and answer for this
is God.
Natural theology
Natural theology is the name given to attempts to demonstrate the existence of God and to
determine the nature of God using the powers of human reason. For most Christians, both
natural theology and revealed theology (reflection on what has been shown to humanity by
God) are important and complement each other.
Revealed theology could give people truths that they would not be able to work out
themselves, such as truths about life after death, but natural theology can support that their
beliefs make sense and can give them a logical reason to support their faith. It can also
direct people to evidence of the existence of God in the world around them. Paul in Romans
writes:
“Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to
them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and
divine nature – have clearly been seen, being understood from what has been made, so that
people are without excuse.”
For example, we can look at the beauty of the world and draw conclusions about the
creativity of God, we can look at the variation between animals and plants and draw
conclusions about an intelligent designer.
, The teleological argument for the existence of God
These arguments are often known as design arguments. The world ‘teleological’ comes from
the Greek ‘telos’ which means ‘end’ and the teleological arguments are those which look at
the end results – the world we can see around is – and use it to draw conclusions. As the
world is so complex, it could not have happened by chance, therefore, there must be a being
outside of the universe which designed the world to be this way.
Aquinas’ design argument
In the Middle Ages, design arguments were used by Aquinas in his ‘Five Ways; which were
five ways of demonstrating that God exists through inductive argument, based on
observation and evidence.
In Aquinas’ view, knowledge of God could be reached in two ways; one was through
revelation, where God chooses to reveal truths to people and the second was through our
own human reason, which Aquinas believed was God-given for this purpose. He believed
that if we applied reason to the evidence that we see around us, we can reach valuable
truths. Therefore, he supported both revealed and natural theology.
In the Fifth Way, Aquinas claims that nature seems to have an order and purpose to it. He
argues that no inanimate (non-living) thing can have its own purpose; he uses the example
of an arrow – an arrow cannot hit a target without an archer to guide it to do so. He
suggested that nothing inanimate is purposeful without the aid of a ‘guiding hand’.
If we see an arrow flying towards a target, we know that
someone must have aimed and fired it, and in the same way,
when we look at the world around us and the purposiveness of
inanimate objects, we can conclude the guiding hand of God
must be behind it. Therefore, everything in nature which is
moving but which has no intelligence must be directed to its
goal by God.
William Paley (1743-1805) and the eighteenth-century design argument
He used the analogy of someone coming across a watch on a heath; the person would
notice how well the watch worked and would conclude that someone must have made the
watch, rather than the watch existing out of pure chance.
Paley compared the watch to the world and suggested that, as
the world is so complex and intricate, there must be a
designer. He claimed that we do not need to see the watch
being designed to know that there must have been a designer
and he went onto express that the world is much more
impressive than the workings of a watch.
In his book, ‘Natural Theology’, Paley argues that, not only is everything clearly designed,
but it is designed for a purpose; and it is designed to an infinite degree of care. Even on a
small scale, there is evidence of craft and skill, and despite the number of different things in
the world, the same care seems to have been taken with the design of each.
Paley concluded that this was not only evidence of intelligent design, but also of God’s care.
If God cared enough about each insect to design it with such attention to detail, then surely
people can be confident that God will care for them too.
The cosmological argument for the existence of God
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