The Teleological Argument

1. The Teleological Argument

Teleology involves the idea of purpose and design. Many things were necessary for human life to exist, and even minuscule changes in physical laws or conditions would preclude the development of life. Life and even the inorganic portions of the universe give many appearances of design. This is verbalized in a proposition. The proposition is:

Anticipatory design shows an intelligent designer

Human life shows anticipatory design

Hence, Human life shows an intelligent designer

Arguments for the Teleological Evidence

A small list of examples showing design includes:

1. From Astronomy
   • Fine Tuning
   • 21% oxygen
   • Gravitational forces perfect
   • Distance from sun perfect for heat
   • Expansion rate of universe right for life
   • The thickness of the earth’s crust is right for life
   • The tilt of the earth provides the best condition
   • Speed of light is proper for life
   • Nuclear forces correct to hold atoms together
   • Distance between stars perfect for life
   • The cosmological constant (energy density of space) is minutely right
   • The right amount of seismic activity for life
2. From Microbiology (1)
   • Specified Complexity (DNA) has an intelligent designer
   • Life has specified complexity
   • Therefore, the first life had an intelligent designer.
3. From Microbiology (2)
   • Irreducible complexity has an intelligent designer
   • First life had irreducible complexity
   • Therefore, the first life had an intelligent designer.
4. From Microbiology (3)
   • The genetic code of amoeba would fill 1000 sets of encyclopedias
   • Our brain has enough information to fill 20 million volumes
   • Language and cell function have a mathematically identical structure

Objections to the Teleological Arguments

1. Things could have happened by chance, not design.
   • First, the chances are virtually zero.
   • Second, science is not based on chance but on regularity, which demands an intelligent cause of life.
   • Third, chance is not a cause. The only causes are natural forces or intelligent ones. Moreover, life needs an intelligent cause.
2. Natural selection could have caused first life to emerge.
   • First, there is no real natural selection on the pre-biotic level.
   • Second, natural selection only explains the survival of the old, not the arrival of the new. 
   • Third, natural selection has never been observed to produce life from chemicals.
3. There is a lack of design in nature-things which have no purpose.
   • First, no known purpose does not mean no purpose.
   • Second, we now know a purpose for many things we did not once know.
   • Third, we may yet find a purpose for the rest.
   • Fourth, even randomness has a purpose.
4. Some designs are not perfect. There is waste. Organisms break down, and mutations occur.
   • First, even less-than-perfect designs still need a designer.
   • Second, the imperfections of the world may have a moral cause. It may have been made perfect initially but only later became imperfect.
5. There could be endless designers and no first designers.
   • First, every cause does not need a cause; only every effect does.
   • Second, every designer does not need a cause; Only every design does.
   • Third, it begs the question to claim that every designer needs a designer (It simply asserts without proof that there is no First Designer)
6. Richard Dawkins stated that nature has the appearance of design but it is an illusion. There really in no design, even though it appears so.
   • If it is only an illusion, it is a marvelous illusion. The human cell is full of machines that regulate and guide metabolism and cell reproduction. These machines are complex, very complex. In addition, these machines are more efficient than man-made machines. It seems quite unlikely that the complexity of the cell could be anything other than designed.