PHIL 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Epicurus, A Priori And A Posteriori, Intelligent Designer
Teleological Arguments
● Cicero -> Aquinas (Arg. from inanimate objects), Isaac Newton (Arg. from the eye),
William Paley (Arg. from analogy with watch)
● Challenged by Charles Darwin, criticized by Epicurus and David Hume
● Hume is a central figure in the criticism
Newton
● Did eyes come into existence from blind chance? How else would we have had eyes to
see so perfectly?
1. There are eyes, and they exhibit an intricate purposeful structure (eyes are for seeing).
2. This structure came about either by blind chance or by an intelligent designer.
3. It couldn’t have come about by blind chance.
4. Hence, there is an intelligent designer.
Cleanthes’ Argument
● A priori - without experience
● A posteriori - with experience
● Machines are intricate structures, the world is an intricate structure - they must resemble
each other, just on a different scale
● By analogy we infer it is designed
● D2 is an argument from analogy - a lot of criticism
● Argument directly to a designer
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