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Teleological Argument

Teleological Argument. James A. Van Slyke Azusa Pacific University . Teleological argument. The World exhibits intelligent purpose or order Therefore, there must be a divine intelligence or designer to account for the nature of the universe. Natural Theology. William Paley (1743-1805)

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Teleological Argument

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  1. Teleological Argument James A. Van Slyke Azusa Pacific University

  2. Teleological argument • The World exhibits intelligent purpose or order • Therefore, there must be a divine intelligence or designer to account for the nature of the universe

  3. Natural Theology • William Paley (1743-1805) • “Watch” Argument • If we infer intelligent designers for general artifacts (Watch) • The universe is obviously more complex than a watch • Therefore, there must be an intelligent designer

  4. Creation and Theism • Four Views • Creationism • Intelligent Design • Theistic Evolution • Evolutionary Naturalism • Disagreement over the involvement of natural law and Divine intervention

  5. Understanding Divine Action • Providence • Keeps all thing in existence • Creatures are not independent existents • Without God, creatures would not continue to exist • Cooperative Providence – God works in, with, and through the created world

  6. Understanding Divine Action • Special providence • Acts performed to meet our needs “out of the ordinary” • Miracles • Special signs and actions of God that reveal his purposes

  7. Reading the Bible • Inerrancy • Free from error • Theological • Historical • Scientific • Infallibility • Free from error in terms of theological truth

  8. Creationism • Basic Principles • Sudden creation of the cosmos from nothing but Divine action • Insufficiency of evolution to explain development of all living beings • Changes occur only within fixed limits of originally created kinds of plants and animals

  9. Creationism • Basic Principles • No common descent; apes and humans have separate ancestry • Earth’s geology is explained by catastrophism, including a worldwide flood

  10. Intelligent Design Views • Connections to Natural Theology • Macroevolution ascribed to God’s intervention in natural history • Evolutionary theory provides an incomplete picture of the development of the cosmos

  11. Intelligent Design Views • Phillip Johnson – Darwin on Trial • Evidence of Design in Natural Order, not just random chance and natural law • Critiques • Gaps in the fossil record • Lack of evidence supporting speciation • Evolutionary theory is actually a form of natural philosophy

  12. Intelligent Design Views • Evolution leads to a Naturalistic philosophy • No purpose to existence • Evolution is the only theory to explain life • Morality • Religion • Goal of human life

  13. Intelligent Design Views • Michael Behe – Darwin’s Black Box • Committed Evolutionist • There exist structures that are irreducibly complex • Particular natural structures would not exist if one part was removed • Thus these particular structures could not have arisen through standard Darwinian processes • Internal workings of cells • Immune system • Therefore must be an intelligent designer

  14. Intelligent Design Views • William Dembski – “The Design Inference” • Complexity from a mathematical and philosophical view • Produced an algorithm that measures whether “specified complexity” exists • Complexity means that the event or object cannot be explained by arising from chance • Complex structures cannot be explained by any natural laws, known or unknown

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