Explain the teleological argument and Hume’s criticisms of it.

Essay Tips
- Explain, evaluate, analyse- it is important to consider the wording of the question as it indicates how the essay should be structured and to what extent a critical response is required.- In explain question you should demonstrate your knowledge and understanding, rather than putting forward your own argument (you have the opportunity to do so in a part B question).- Write as if you are teaching the concept to someone who knows nothing of the teleological argument.- Do not feel as though you need to describe every version of the teleological argument you can think of and every single aspect of Hume’s critique- be selective and choose appropriate examples (examiners understand you have limited time, and will expect a range of answers).- Pause & consider question and then plan before writing- it has two parts, firstly to explain the teleological argument and the Hume’s critiques.- Clear structure is vital and will help you to answer coherently and efficiently (hence why it is vital to plan!)
Introduction A brief outline or summary of the teleological argument and Hume’s critique - Looks to prove the existence of God through observation- a posteriori & inductive (reasoning or knowledge that proceeds from experience).- Derived from the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘end or ‘purpose’.- There are several versions of the argument (Plato, Cicero, Aquinas, Paley)- the recurrent premise is that nature is intricately ordered displays purpose, which suggests the existence of an intelligent creator who has designed and shaped the universe.- Cicero- ‘What could be more clear or obvious when we look up to the sky and contemplate the heavens, than that there is some divinity or superior intelligence?’.- David Hume, in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion provides several criticisms and counter arguments to the teleological argument.
Essay Body
Part I: Teleological arguments - Aquinas’ Fifth Way ‘from the governance of the world’- one of the five arguments for the existence of God put forward in Summa Theologica.- Aquinas uses the analogy of the archer to clarify his argument.- When looking at the natural world, we see that non-intelligent beings (objects that are not conscious or thinking) behaving purposefully and habitually towards a certain end, as an arrow moves towards a target.- As these objects cannot think for themselves, they cannot move towards an end without the direction of an external being with intelligence, as the inanimate arrow cannot move independently without the existence of an archer.- Thus, as the arrow is directed towards a target by an archer, the natural world is directed towards its goals by an intelligent being who we call ‘God’.- Paley’s Watchmaker Analogy- Paley puts forward his argument in Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity.- Suppose that one found a pocket watch that had been dropped on a heath, it would be assumed that it had been made by a watchmaker rather than by chance. - The watch is complex, intricate and behaves with regularity- many individual parts work harmoniously towards the end of telling the time. - Likewise, the universe is complex and intricate in design- it also displays regularity and order that works towards fulfilling purpose. - Like the watch has not come into existence by chance, the universe itself could not have come into existence by accident- the characteristics of the universe are proof of an intelligent designer.
Part II: Hume’s Challenges- Hume is a religious sceptic and an empiricist- he emphasises the argument is based on flawed analogies.1. Hume contends that the universe is orderly- he highlights that though the natural world appears harmonious at times, it is also chaotic, disorderly and arbitrary,  (natural disasters, disease etc. suggest the world is imperfect and full of suffering), which, if the world was designed, suggests an inadequate designer rather than the Judeo-Christian God. Who is to say this designer is the superior being above all others when the world could have just been ‘the first rude essay of some infant deity who afterwards abandoned it’.2. Hume also challenges that order evidences design, emphasising that this is a presumption- as an empiricist Hume states that knowledge is derived from experience, i.e. unlike man-made objects, we have never witnessed the creation of the universe by a designer, the universe is not feasibly comparable to a machine. 3. Even if the teleological argument were successful, it only proves the existence of a designer, it does not verify specific characteristics of the God of classical theism- Hume uses the analogy of the ship, noting that many shipwrights are employed to craft a ship fit for use and thus the same may apply to the universe, which may have been created by many beings- who’s to say they are not demons? 4. The universe could have come into existence by pure chance.
Conclusion - Brief recap what has been explained in the main body of the essay- do not add any new content.