Teleological argument

==Medieval philosophy and theology==

===Late classical Christian writers===
As an appeal to [[general revelation]], [[Paul the Apostle]] (AD 5–67), argues in [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 1:18–20,<ref>{{bibleverse|Romans|1:18–20}}</ref> that because it has been made plain to all from what has been created in the world, it is obvious that there is a God.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Christian philosophy as natural theology |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=17 August 2023 |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115240/Christianity/67536/Christian-philosophy-as-natural-theology}}</ref>

[[Marcus Minucius Felix]] (c. late 2nd to 3rd century), an Early Christian writer, argued for the existence of God based on the analogy of an ordered house in his ''The Orders of Minucius Felix'': "Supposing you went into a house and found everything neat, orderly and well-kept, surely you would assume it had a master, and one
much better than the good things, his belongings; so in this house of the universe, when throughout
heaven and earth you see the marks of foresight, order and law, may you not assume that the lord and
author of the universe is fairer than the stars themselves or than any portions of the entire world ?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marcus Minucius Felix |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OZqxbh23sQC&q=Marcus%20Minucius%20Felix%20ordered%20house&pg=PA359 |title=The Octavius of Minucius Felix |publisher=OrthodoxEbook |year=2010 |pages=359–361}}</ref>

[[Augustine of Hippo]] (AD 354–430) in [[The City of God]] mentioned the idea that the world's "well-ordered changes and movements", and "the fair appearance of all visible things" was evidence for the world being created, and "that it could not have been created save by God".<ref>[[Augustine of Hippo]], ''[[The City of God|City of God]]'' XI, ch. 4: "the world itself, by its well-ordered changes and movements, and by the fair appearance of all visible things, bears a testimony of its own, both that it has been created, and also that it could not have been created save by God, whose greatness and beauty are unutterable and invisible".</ref>

=== Islamic philosophy ===
Early Islamic philosophy played an important role in developing the philosophical understandings of God among Jewish and Christian thinkers in the Middle Ages, but concerning the teleological argument one of the lasting effects of this tradition came from its discussions of the difficulties which this type of proof has. Various forms of the argument from design have been used by Islamic theologians and philosophers from the time of the early [[Mutakallimun]] theologians in the 9th century, although it is rejected by fundamentalist or literalist schools, for whom the mention of God in the [[Quran|Qu'ran]] should be sufficient evidence. The argument from design was also seen as an unconvincing sophism by the early Islamic philosopher [[Al-Farabi]], who instead took the "[[emanationist]]" approach of the [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonists]] such as Plotinus, whereby nature is rationally ordered, but God is not like a craftsman who literally manages the world. Later, [[Avicenna]] was also convinced of this, and proposed instead a cosmological argument for the existence of God.<ref>{{Citation |last=Goodman |first=Lenn Evan |title=Avicenna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=779JPlxYtGoC&pg=PA63 |page=63 |year=1992 |publisher=Cornell university press |isbn=978-0801472541}}</ref>

The argument was however later accepted by both the Aristotelian philosopher [[Averroes]] (Ibn Rushd) and his great anti-philosophy opponent [[Al-Ghazali]]. Averroes' term for the argument was ''Dalīl al-ˁināya'', which can be translated as "argument from providence". Both of them however accepted the argument ''because'' they believed it is explicitly mentioned in the Quran.<ref>{{Citation |last=Abrahamov |first=Binyāmîn |title=Kitāb al-Dalīl al-Kabīr |year=1990 |editor-last=Abrahamov |editor-first=Binyāmîn |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYqKHJFAhr8C |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004089853}}</ref> Despite this, like Aristotle, the Neoplatonists, and Al-Farabi, Averroes proposed that order and continual motion in the world is caused by God's intellect. Whether Averroes was an "emanationist" like his predecessors has been a subject of disagreement and uncertainty. But it is generally agreed that what he adapted from those traditions, agreed with them about the fact that God does not create in the same way as a craftsman.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kogan, Barry S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lAyv0Ayy-R0C&q=teleological+argument&pg=PA240 |title=Averroes and the metaphysics of causation |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-88706-063-2 |pages=240–243}}</ref><ref>Belo, Catarina. 2007. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=b4Nii9xOmTYC Chance and Determinism in Avicenna and Averroës]''. Leiden: [[Brill Publishers|Brill]]. p.&nbsp;194.</ref>

In fact then, Averroes treated the teleological argument as one of two "religious" arguments for the existence of God. The principal demonstrative proof is, according to Averroes, Aristotle's proof from motion in the universe that there must be a first mover which causes everything else to move.<ref>[[Carlos Fraenkel|Fraenkel, Carlos]]. 2012. ''Philosophical Religions from Plato to Spinoza: Reason, Religion, and Autonomy''. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]. p.&nbsp;[https://books.google.com/books?id=2wYgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA199 199].</ref> Averroes' position that the most logically valid proof should be physical rather than metaphysical (because then metaphysics would be proving itself) was in conscious opposition to the position of Avicenna. Later Jewish and Christian philosophers such as [[Thomas Aquinas]] were aware of this debate, and generally took a position closer to Avicenna.

===Jewish philosophy===
An example of the teleological argument in [[Jewish philosophy]] appears when the medieval Aristotelian philosopher [[Maimonides]] cites the passage in [[Isaiah]] 40:26, where the "Holy One" says: "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number:"<ref>{{Cite web |title=King James Version of the Bible |url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+40%3A26&version=AKJV}}</ref> However, Barry Holtz calls this "a crude form of the argument from design", and that this "is only one possible way of reading the text". He asserts that "Generally, in the biblical texts the existence of God is taken for granted."<ref>Holtz, B., ''Back to the Sources'', Simon and Schuster, 2008, p. 287.</ref>

Maimonides also recalled that [[Abraham]] (in the [[midrash]], or explanatory text, of [[Genesis Rabbah]] 39:1) recognized the existence of "one transcendent deity from the fact that the world around him exhibits an order and design".<ref name=Koch/> The [[midrash]] makes an analogy between the obviousness that a building has an owner, and that the world is looked after by God. Abraham says "Is it conceivable that the world is without a guide?"<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Genesis Rabbah'', 39:1 |url=https://archive.org/stream/RabbaGenesis/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n359/mode/2up}}</ref> Because of these examples, the 19th century philosopher [[Nachman Krochmal]] called the argument from design "a cardinal principle of the Jewish faith".<ref name="Koch">Harris, J.M., ''Nachman Krochmal: Guiding the Perplexed of the Modern Age'', NYU Press, 1991, p. 45.</ref>

The American orthodox rabbi, [[Aryeh Kaplan]], retells a legend about the 2nd century AD [[Rabbi Meir]]. When told by a philosopher that he did not believe that the world was created by God, the rabbi produced a beautiful poem that he claimed had come into being when a cat accidentally knocked over a pot of ink, "spilling ink all over the document. This poem was the result." The philosopher exclaims that would be impossible: "There must be an author. There must be a scribe." The rabbi concludes, "How could the universe ... come into being by itself? There must be an Author. There must be a Creator."<ref>Kaplan, A., ''The Aryeh Kaplan Anthology: Illuminating Expositions on Jewish Thought and Practice by a Revered Teacher'', Volume 1, Mesorah Publications, 1991, p. 114.</ref>

=== Thomas Aquinas ===
[[File:St-thomas-aquinas.jpg|thumb|upright|The fifth of Thomas Aquinas' proofs of God's existence was based on teleology.]]

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), whose writings became widely accepted within Catholic western Europe, was heavily influenced by Aristotle, Averroes, and other Islamic and Jewish philosophers. He presented a teleological argument in his ''[[Summa Theologica]]''. In the work, Aquinas presented five ways in which he attempted to prove the existence of God: the ''[[quinque viae]]''. These arguments feature only ''a posteriori'' arguments, rather than literal reading of holy texts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies, Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxrDzeKU2VsC&q=aquinas+teleological+argument+aristotle&pg=PA30 |title=The Thought of Thomas Aquinas |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-19-152044-0 |page=30, footnote 30}}</ref> He sums up his teleological argument as follows:

{{Blockquote|text=The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that they achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly. Now whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is directed by the archer. Therefore, some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God. |author=Thomas Aquinas|source=''Summa Theologica: Article 3, Question 2)''<ref name="Himma">Himma, Kenneth Einar (2006). [http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/design.htm#SH1b "Design Arguments for the Existence of God"], in James Fieser and Bradley Dowden, eds., ''The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', retrieved 8/24/08</ref>}}

Aquinas notes that the existence of [[final cause]]s, by which a cause is directed toward an effect, can only be explained by an appeal to intelligence. However, as natural bodies aside from humans do not possess intelligence, there must, he reasons, exist a being that directs final causes at every moment. That being is what we call God.<ref name="Himma" />