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OCR AS RS: Teleological argument help!

Hi guys,

Could someone please explain to be the difference between regularity of succession and design qua regularity. I can't separate the concepts from one another :smile:

Thanks

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Are you sure you’ve posted in the right place? Posting in the specific Study Help forum should help get responses. :redface:

I'm going to quote in Puddles the Monkey now so she can move your thread to the right place if it's needed. :h:

Spoiler

Reply 2

yusraali

Original post by baldwel

Hi guys,

Could someone please explain to be the difference between regularity of succession and design qua regularity. I can't separate the concepts from one another :smile:

Thanks

Regularity of succession, also known as design qua purpose: this is when the world is directed to a purpose or direction. According to Aquinas, unintelligent objects manage to fulfil a purpose. (The arrow to it's target, for example) This is directed by an intelligent being (e.g the archer). This intelligent being must be God, because he is able to guide things to fulfil a purpose. Aquinas argument is design qua purpose or regularity of succession because it seeks to show that the universe has a purpose or direction, and this is enabled by God.

Design qua regularity: Arguments from the general pattern of order in the universe. In this case, because there is so much order in the universe, it can't have been coincidental. It must have been enabled by God. For example, Paley makes another argument from design qua regularity. He used physics and the laws of motion from Isaac Newton and observed how the planets followed the same universal law because of gravity- how they managed to always orbit in tune to somehow suit the solar system. This can't have been by chance, so God must have put these universal gravity laws in place.

Hope this helped!