PHLA10H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Pretty Smart, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Designer
Document Summary
Transiion from premises 2 to 3 commits the birthday fallacy. If each mindless object that acts for an end has a designer, it doesn"t follow that there is a single designer of all the mindless objects that act for an end. Act for an end corresponds to the modern idea of a goal-directed system. Human being act for an end because they have desires. These desires represent the ends or purposes or goals to which behaviors are directed. Human beings are capable of goal-directed behavior because they have minds. Mindless objects like guided missiles are goal-directed systems because they are arifacts which are built by creatures with minds. Nonhuman organisms bacteria evidently don"t have beliefs and desires, seek out nutrients and avoid poisonous chemicals. Because of this it seems plausible to describe them as having the goal of surviving and reproducing. Inanimate objects such as rocks seems implausible to describe them as being hard.
