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The teleological argument for the existence of God is based on the premise that the world has within it intelligent purpose and order and this leads to the conclusion that there must be a supreme designer. One form of the argument is based on the machine like qualities within the world that suggest that there was some ultimate designer who organized all the complex parts, just as man would a machine. The second form is based upon the complexity of the world and the natural laws which govern it. While both forms of this argument present a case for the existence of God, both run into many problems for those that try to defend it.
William Paley puts forth the teleological argument in his Natural Theology where he likens the world to a watch. If one were walking along and randomly found a watch lying on the ground one would conclude that it must have been made by some being with purpose and intelligence. His reasoning is that just as all the mechanical parts of a watch have a purpose, so too does the world and this leads one to believe just as the watch has a designer so too must the world. He argues that, like a watch, these parts in nature have an intelligent design and work
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While Swinburne tries valiantly to defend this argument I still have problems with it. ” (Pojman 60) Swinburne believes that nature produces living things much the same way that men produce machines that make machines, thus, nature must have a creator similar to men who make such machines.
Hume also argues against the teleological argument by showing that one cannot compare this universe to other universes to determine if this is the type of universe that forms on its own or is designed. One cannot postulate that without order in the universe as it is now that there would be chaos, there would still be order, just not the same order found now. If the machine miraculously turns out 10 consecutive aces of hearts, the fact that this is the only scenario that the person would be alive to contemplate it doesn’t change the fact that this happened despite its very low probability. The resulting order does not imply nor does it necessitate a cause, order would happen no matter what, to say that it wouldn’t occur would be an impossibility. There is no design involved, and without design there is no purpose, and without purpose there is no creator. in a way that have a purpose, but in nature this design is more complex and on such a scale that the designer would have to be equally knowledgeable and powerful, like God.
With the above argument in mind Swinburne’s teleological argument fails. Hume gives the example of a hair growing. If plants and animals started out simpler in the past and have gradually become more complex, then there is no need to have an ultimate designer to explain the complexity seen now in the world. The process of evolution which seems to explain how organisms have changed from more simple to more complexes over time appears to explain the complexity of the world. The world is so much more complex and on such a greater scale, that nothing man makes can come close to be comparable.
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