A Case of Mistaken Identity: Aquinas's Fifth Way and Arguments of Intelligent Design

When academically inclined atheists critique arguments for the existence of God, they commonly target arguments of Intelligent Design as proposed by Paley, Dembski, and Behe. In so doing, it is not uncommon for them to include within the scope of their criticisms Aquinas's fifth proof for the e...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Newton, William (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2014
In: New blackfriars
Year: 2014, Volume: 95, Issue: 1059, Pages: 569-578
Further subjects:B Atheism
B Intelligent design
B Aquinas
B Fifth Way
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Summary:When academically inclined atheists critique arguments for the existence of God, they commonly target arguments of Intelligent Design as proposed by Paley, Dembski, and Behe. In so doing, it is not uncommon for them to include within the scope of their criticisms Aquinas's fifth proof for the existence of God – the proof from final causality. In this essay, I shall argue that there are very significant differences between the Fifth Way and the more modern arguments of Intelligent Design which means that any critique offered in regard to the latter normally leaves the former unscathed. Moreover, I shall also argue that the Intelligent Design approach concedes some of the erroneous premises of the atheists’ own arguments and that these are in no way conceded by Aquinas in the Fifth Way or elsewhere.
ISSN:1741-2005
Contains:Enthalten in: New blackfriars
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/nbfr.12061