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U of A PHIL 200 - Hume's Criticisms and responses
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PHIL 200 1st EditionLecture 5Outline of Last Lecture I. Hume’s DialogueOutline of Current Lecture II. Hume’s Criticisms III. Response to the criticisms of HumesCurrent Lecture-Hume’s Dialogue-II: Hume’s CriticismsHume’s Dialogue Concerning ReligionCleanthes’ formulation of the “design argument”P1: From like effects we infer like causesP2: The universe is like a machineP3: a machine is an effect of intelligent designP4/C1: So the universe has the same cause (intelligence design)C3: So god existsCriticisms:1.) Lack of similarity between machines and universes2.) We have no experience of universe causinga. We can’t depend on this because we weren’t alive when it was createdb. We are completely out of our depth trying to draw any conclusions about what the causes of this sort of gigantic thing could be3.) *The part/whole complaintThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.a. We are only counting one of many sources of complexity in the universe, assuming it’s responsible for the whole thing. Even if we say that a lot of the complexity around here is thought made, that’s no guarantee that the whole universe is thought-made.b. There are lots of different ways to create complex things outside of intelligence… therefore it’s not fair to say it’s just intelligence that created the universeIII: Response to Criticisms on HumesCleanthes claims to have responses to these criticisms:1.) The voice in the skya. We hear a big voice in the sky and we seem to be allowed to say, yeah, that came from something fairly supernatural. Never had any experience with the causes of that kind of effect either- but would you really doubt the inference to the cause as something supernatural? It’s more or less just like hearing a voice in the dark. You know it came from something intelligent (a person). Just because this one is bigger and louder doesn’t seem to make much difference.2.) The vegetating librarya. Suppose books are like animals that propagate themselves just like animals do. Since they’re less complex than animals, it’s easier to imagine this than propagation of animals. It seems very hard to deny that, opening any book, its original “author” had to be intelligent. If that’s true, then the case of ex.) animals is even more clear; must be intelligent author, too.b. Even though you’ve had no experience, but you would think some sort of human created this. [both of these claims respond to the second criticism because we can draw conclusions with where things come from even if we’ve never been exposed to them before]Some causes of complexity/order:- intelligence (thought)- Instinct - ‘generation’- ‘vegetation’- geological/meteorological - chance/random thing that just occurred[if complexity found in the universe is like the complexity/order/organization found in plants and animal behavior, etc. do we have any grounds for preferring intelligence? - we cannot ignore all other options]Consider anological argument1. object 1 has properties w,x,y2. object 2 has properties w,x,y, and z3. so object 1 has property z tooAn important proviso: w,x, and y must be relevant to the possession of Z. They must increase the likelihood that Z is present in Object 1. If they are relevant, it makes it likely that Z exists. 1. car x has yellow paint and leather seats2. car y has yellow pain, leather seats, and transmission problems 3. your car probably has transmission problems too[this does not increase the likelihood that your car has transmission problems because they aren’t relevant]1. the universe is ordered, organized, and complex to a very minute level2. machine X is ordered, organized, complex to a very minute level, AND was caused by an intelligent designer3. so the universe must have been caused by an intelligent designer[isn’t this like the yellow paint? There are so many other possible things that could have created the universe. It is not the only good enough reason the universe was created… he needs to prove that they are EXTREMELY SIMILAR AND


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U of A PHIL 200 - Hume's Criticisms and responses

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