PHIL 1000 : Test 2 Study Guide
Document Summary
The knowledge which we have by natural reason contains two things: images derived from the sensible objects; and the natural intelligible light, enabling us to abstract from them intelligible conceptions. Now in both of these, human knowledge is assisted by the revelation of grace. Machines/artifacts and natural things are similar in that both are orderly, complex, and purposeful: 2. The order, complexity, and purposefulness of machines is plausibly explained only by their being the product of some intelligent design: 3. Thus, probably the order, complexity, and purposefulness of natural things is plausibly explained only by their being the product of intelligent design. Living things are biological systems and are thus subject to any operative laws of nature and, especially those pertaining to biology. Origins of species (1859) provides an alternative explanation for many of the examples of apparent design in nature that are thought to count in favor of the existence of an intelligent designer.
