teleological argument

noun

, Metaphysics.

1. the argument for the existence of God based on the assumption that order in the universe implies an orderer and cannot be a natural feature of the universe.

teleological argument

noun

1. philosophy the argument purporting to prove the existence of God from empirical facts, the premise being that the universe shows evidence of order and hence design Also calledargument from design Compare ontological argument cosmological argument

Example Sentences

It is the kind of teleological argument that many scientists reject, but one that Davies cannot help finding attractive.

From The Guardian

In the opening portions of this book Wallace introduces a teleological argument to the effect that the pain which we ordinarily conceive as connected with the struggle for existence among lower species is mostly a figment of our imagination.

From Project Gutenberg

The gradual development of stability from instability, harmony from disharmony, a state where collision is at a minimum from one where it was at a maximum, may be regarded as furnishing the best phase possible of a teleological argument.

From Project Gutenberg

We may ask, then, whether the friends of the teleological argument would agree to designate this state, which is highest from a mathematical point of view since it includes all the elements of the universe, as highest in any point of view favoring a theological theory of design.

From Project Gutenberg

The teleological argument is accustomed to take into consideration only the evolution side of natural process; the pessimistic argument lays emphasis, on the other hand, on all forms of dissolution,—both views corresponding thus, as a matter of fact, to but half the truth.

From Project Gutenberg