Teleological Argument for the Existence of God [addendum] | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Collins 2002). Swinburne's Cumulative Case for God's Existence Is an Argument to the Best Explanation, Citing Various Pieces of Data or Evidence That Are (A) Relatively Improbable on an Assumption of Naturalism but (B) Relatively Probable If Theism Is True (Swinburne 1979). One Such Datum Is That the Universe Conforms to Simple, Mathematically Formulable Scientific Laws—That Is It Exhibits Causal Order. (This Differs from Spatial Order, an Arrangement of Parts That Serves the Purpose of a Greater Whole, as in an Organism's Suitability for Its Environment.) While Theories of Evolution Partially Undermine the Argument from Spatial Order, They Leave the Following Argument from Causal Order Untouched:

Naturalism; Philosophy of Religion, History Of; Physicotheology; Popular Arguments for the Existence of God; Religious Experience, Argument for the Existence of God; Theism, Arguments for and Against.

Collins, Robin. "Design and the Many-Worlds Hypothesis" In Philosophy of Religion: A Reader and Guide, edited by William Lane Craig. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002.

Smart, John Jamieson Carswell, and John J. Haldane. Atheism and Theism. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. Smart offers a critique of Haldane's theistic arguments that would apply equally to many of Swinburne's and Collins's arguments.

Swinburne, Richard. The Existence of God. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.

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