The Teleological Argument For The Existence Of God

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”.

Many people wonder about the existence of God and if he truly exists. We have to realize that it is obvious that he exists because of his many creations. Sometimes we think that the world has so much evil so how is God here. Multiple philosophers have made proofs and arguments abut how God really does exist. Philosophers have made arguments that he exists for example Shaun Doyle says that God reveals himself to people in many ways such as that the spirit himself testifies to Christians spirits that we are God’s children, William Lane Craig has found the differences his existence has made, and Pascal Wager’s is an argument that says that believing in God is not on an appeal that he exists, but based on an appeal to self-interest.

The Key Ideas of the Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God A) The cosmological argument is to prove the existence of god. In this type of argument we are looking at cause and not design. This type of argument is an aposteriori argument because it is based upon experience. Thomas Aquinas puts the key ideas into 3 ways.

The Teleological Argument defends the proof for the existence of a God, it is also called The Design Argument. It discusses the intelligent design in the universe. The supporting theory behind this is that the universe is so vastly complex and well balanced that only a creator could have designed it. All of the sophistication and detail could not have occurred by chance. When examining the immense universe and seeing the complexity, intricate detail, and unique order there are a variety of explanations for how it may have come to existence, however because of these complexities and order only a designer could have designed it. The basic idea of the teleological argument is that the world does have intelligent purpose, by looking at nature and seeing its order unity and designed complexity. If one is to look at all living creature, the existence of DNA shows intelligent design. Someone or something had to design the information imprinted in the DNA. There is no absolute way this could have happened by chance.Therefore, there must be an intelligent designer . There must be a God. Even if we apply scientific theory; I.e. The Big Bang theory, The teleological argument supports the existence of a big banger. This big banger has always existed; not requiring a beginning or an end.

The question “Is God real?” has been speculated for years and years. It is one of the main questions that is still being asked in today’s world, with movies, music and media surrounding it. The popular movies that have recently been released such as “God’s Not Dead” and “Heaven is for Real,” are perfect examples of this, with millions going to see them, and supporting the assumption that there is a God and place called Heaven. Millions of people assert their faith of God on a daily basis by claiming to pray to him, and doing things in order to bring him glory; the Bible is a major component that people turn to in order to support their claim that God is real, and is still apart of our everyday life. However, there is a side that states God is not real and he will not return. Major arguments for this side would be through certain catastrophic events that occurred, such as the Boston bombings or the attack on 9/11. The nonbelievers state that if there was a God he would not put his people through that; and also the argument of evolution, and how man came to be. As for me, I believe that God is indeed real, because the stories of Jesus told through the Bible, the amount of people that claim to have first-hand experience of both God and heaven, how Moses obtained the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, and how life events are interconnected to teach us lessons.

The cosmological argument for the existence of God is based on causation and the world having a beginning. It holds that everything that exists has a cause and there must have been an initial cause. The argument attempts to prove the existence of God by making an inference from the world. It starts from the reality that things exist and then follows that there is a cause for the existence of these things. It acknowledges that something caused the universe to exist and some thing is currently keeping it existing.

A major strength of the teleological argument is that it is logical. The design of the universe is apparent and evident for everyone to see, and everyone can appreciate that such beauty and design which the universe possesses requires a constant effort and input of energy to make it and keep it so.

The natural world around me seems to call out that there is a creator. In the beginning of time God spoke everything into existence. Land, sea, animals, and plants were all brought about this way. He decided that when there was greater light it would be day and when it was less light it would be night (Gen. 1).

Theories have arisen from many different philosophers trying to explain the existence of God; the Cosmological Argument is one such theory. The Cosmological Argument has been changed and reviewed for years; however, the focus has always stayed the same. The universe is a prime example that there is a God. A simple Cosmological argument states that:

Does god exist? I have gone my entire life knowing the answer to that question. Sure, I have doubted that answer at times; but, I always end up reassuring myself that I am indeed not wrong. I am right. Perhaps I am just oblivious to the fact that I am very likely wrong. And that I have gone my life with how is best described by Kathryn Schulz in her book, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, where she states, “A whole lot of us go through life assuming that we are basically right, basically all the time, about basically everything: about our political and intellectual convictions, our religious and moral beliefs, our assessment of other people, our memoires, our grasp of facts. As absurd as it sounds when we stop to think about, our steady state seems to be one of unconsciously assuming that we are very close to omniscient” (4). Or maybe I am right.

Does God exist? According to Anselm of Canterbury of course God exists, and he is able to explain how that is to be. Anselm uses the ontological argument to essentially state that the only way for a perfect creator, God, to be even greater would to exist in reality as opposed to thought, and thus, God exists. This logic is argued against by many philosophers throughout time, most notably by a fellow Benedictine monk, Gaunilo.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Since the beginning of Christianity, there has been erratic controversy about the existence of an all-powerful God. There is a good portion of people who are convinced there is not a God with scientific reasoning, and another good portion who base their belief of a God on faith. Those who do not believe in God and those who do are tested by the same question; how did life start? Although both answers are debatable, I believe, undoubtedly, that God is not dead.

The existence of God has been in question for as long as mankind has existed and thought logically. Many questions have plagued the human mind in regards to God, and there have been many arguments drawn with the hopes of proving the existence of a supreme being whom we know as God. The “God” question has been presented to every individual at some point in their lives. It is a topic that will bring forth never-ending questions and an equal amount of attempted answers. Many philosophers have formulated different rationales when examining the topic of God, some of which include how the word itself should be defined, what his role is in human existence, whether or not he loves us, and ultimately, if he even exists at all. Mankind cannot

It is difficult and nearly impossible to say whether or not God can exist because there is a definite lack of knowledge, or limited knowledge, regarding this issue. Most human beings in society have the natural curiosity and burning desire to know if God does or does not exist. But, when it comes to God – the possibilities are endless. He is anything and everything – he is not

The topic of god is always a hasty matter; does God exist? This question is usually followed by a set of other questions, does God exists independently of the human mind, or is God a creation of humans? So which is which? God is merely a figment of people’s imagination; humans have created God because they need order in their daily lives and since humans are all the same, they want to believe in an all-powerful being that could show them the way. Now some argument that back up this ideology could be that, humans created God because they are the only creatures with evolved imaginations, and that God did not create the universe, but he created and/or provided the universe with meaning. There are also some objections that follow this way of thinking, for example: humans did not create God; God has to exist, because something must have cause the universe to occur in the beginning. Or that if humans created God how could have God created the meaning of the universe. There are many theories and many objection to this concept, this is all because human have developed independent ways of thinking, so each persons theory of life is extremely, or slightly different than the others.