Examine the arguments against the teleological argument for the existence of God? (30)
The design argument is also known as The teleological argument; it is an argument for the existence of God or for a higher more intelligent creator. The earliest version of the argument is associated with Socrates in ancient Greece.
One argument which disagrees with the teleological is an argument from the famous philosopher David Hume, who said that even though the universe shows features which imply there is design meaning there is a God, the world is also imperfect and full of suffering. This could suggest to us that there isn’t an all loving and omnibenevolent God, Hume also argued that there is no evidence that the universe needs a designer meaning that it could have just come about naturally, this would link back the teleological argument because in the teleological argument it states that the universe has order meaning that there must be a creator who provided this order, so Hume could suggest that order came about naturally without a God. Hume also stated that no one has any evidence to prove that the Universe is not just the result of pure chance or luck, this would go against the teleological argument because he is saying there was no God to design the world and it was a natural occurrence which wasn’t planned or designed. Hume argued for the early forms of the theory of natural selection, he said that animals can adapt to respond to their surrounding and that the large amounts of life on earth could just be the result of these adaptations, rather than an intelligent designer creating all of these creations perfectly.
Another philosopher called John Stewart Mill said that the world is full of evil and suffering, he said humans and animals are surrounded by this suffering on a day to day basis, and example of this could be natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes or moral evils such as the holocaust or terrorism, Mill doesn’t necessarily argue completely against the existence of God but rather argues that God is not good or omnipotent, his arguments however could suggest that god doesn’t exist , for example in Psalm 19:7 it says that god is perfect and that anyone who believes in him will become prefect, Hume on the other hand said that God could not possibly be portrayed as perfect or omnibenevolent due to the mass amounts off suffering there is in the world .
One of the largest oppositions to the teleological argument is science, a famous scientist named Charles Darwin developed the idea of natural selection and that the world could not possibly have been made by a God and that there is a reasonable answer to everything. The theory of evolution stated that humans started off as very primitive beings and as time progressed we adapted to our surroundings. Charles Darwin also argued for design qua purpose, he said the world seemed to work in some pre organize way and that everything did have a purpose but he didn’t believe that the God of classical theism was the being who gave everything a purpose, Darwin’s ideas also relate back to Humes ideas because Hume compared the universe to a machine, this suggest that Hume also believed that the universes apparent purpose is rather more of a natural machine which has no creator and that Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection is the possible explanation for the apparent design in the world.
Epicurus argued for the theory that everything was made up of atoms and that something such as god could not exist, he said that the so called “Gods” could have no influence on a human being’s life and that the point of one’s actions was for pleasure and tranquility, he believed that humans could not be guided or commanded by god and that something such as a God could not possibly exist and he pretty much believed that if your touch it or see it or smell it, it couldn’t possibly come into existence.
In conclusion I believe that there couldn’t possibly be a God due to the substantial amount of evidence science has for things such as evolution and natural selection, I also believe this because believers of god have no hard evidence that there could be a God, and because God is portrayed as perfect I believe it is impossible for him to exist because of things such as natural and moral evils which prove him to not be all loving and all caring.