Tennant

What did Tennant say?

Tennant, in his book; ‘Philosophical Theology’ said that there must be a designer because;

• The universe perfectly fits the development of life.
• The universe is designed in a way that allows life to grow and develop.
• Most importantly, it is designed to develop intelligent human life.
• This is the ‘Anthropic Principle’.

Tenant also spoke of the ‘Aesthetic Argument’ – that humans can appreciate and enjoy beauty, music, art, literature – none of which is vital to survival, but is there to develop qualities of beauty and love.

Further discussion point: is beauty evidence of design?

Swinburne

What did Swinburne say?

• Spatial order (the regularities of co-presence) such as the complex structure of plants and animals can be explained by the theory of natural selection.
• Temporal order (the regularities of succession) such as the laws of nature throughout the universe cannot be explained.
• A scientific explanation merely explains laws in terms of more general laws.
• It does not explain why there is order rather than chaos.
• Either there is no explanation or there must be a being of infinite power and knowledge, i.e. God.