Name________________________________
Reading Questions #3: The Teleological Arguments
Philosophy of Religion
Dr. McCormick
Choose the (one) best answer for each of these questions:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________
4. __________
5. __________
6. __________
7. __________
8. __________
9. __________
10. __________
11. __________
12. __________
13. __________
14. __________
15. __________
16. __________
17. __________
18. __________
19. __________
20. __________
Turn in only the answer sheet above.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Questions #3: Teleological Arguments
Philosophy of Religion
Dr. McCormick
Reading Questions:
1. Which of these are examples are not instances of fine-tuning that Collins focuses on:
a. natural laws
b. the features of elements in chemistry
c. the delicate balance of function between the different systems in organisms like respiration and circulation.
d. the conditions at the beginning of the universe that yielded life later.
e. physical constants like the speed of light, or the force of gravity
2. In section V. Conclusion, Collins says, “In this paper, I have argued that the fine-tuning of the cosmos for life provides strong evidence for preferring theism over the atheistic single-universe hypothesis.” What’s the atheistic single-universe hypothesis?
a. There are many sub-universes that are part of a larger, single universe in which there is no God.
b. There is only one universe and there in no explanation of it or of its being fine tuned.
c. There are many universes in which no God exists.
d. There is a physical process that produces universes, some of which have conditions that are conducive to life.
e. There is one universe that contains all of physics and God.
3. One hypothesis for explaining the rock message, “Welcome to the mountains Robin Collins” is that a person arranged them that way, the other hypothesis that Collins considers is:
a. They were aligned there by aliens.
b. Collins himself did it, but he forgot about it.
c. Coincidence.
d. God did it.
e. The laws of physics did it.
4. As Collins sees it, this claim: “since God is an all good being, and it is good for intelligent, conscious beings to exist, it not surprising or improbable that God would create a world that could support intelligent life,” supports which part of his argument:
a. the fine-tuning data provides strong evidence in favor of the design hypothesis over the atheistic single-universe hypothesis.
b. fine-tuning is highly improbable under the atheistic single-universe hypothesis.
c. The existence of the fine-tuning is not improbable under theism.
d. The existence of the fine-tuning is very improbable under the atheistic single-universe hypothesis.
5. What’s Collins’ response to the possibility that there could be some physical generator of many different universes with different physical laws?
a. Such a generator would be reducibly complex to still more fundamental physical laws.
b. The generator would have to be more complex than the life-sustaining universes that it produces.
c. The existence of such a generator itself is highly improbable on its own and suggests the existence of a designer of it.
d. there can be no many universe generator because this universe is all that there is.
6. When we are considering two competing hypotheses, H1 and H2, and make an observation O, which is true, according to Collins:
a. if H1 predicts that O will be highly likely, but H2 does not, then we should prefer H1 as an explanation of O.
b. If O indicates that H2 is unlikely, then we should favor H1.
c. If H1 predicts that H2 is unlikely and that O is likely, then we should prefer H1.
d. if both hypotheses are indifferent with regard to the probability of O, then there can be no grounds on which to prefer one as more reasonable than the other.
7. According to Weinberg, religious theories of intelligent design have an irreducible mystery because:
a. No single religious tradition can explain why the universe is governed by this sort of God rather than that sort of God.
b. They can’t explain why God exists.
c. They can’t explain what caused God.
d. Science has a better chance to offer a partial answer to the question “why?”
e. Religions can explain why, but science cannot.
8. What does Weinberg intend to show with this metaphor:
“A journalist who has been assigned to interview lottery winners may come to feel that some special providence has been at work on their behalf, but he should keep in mind the much larger number of lottery players whom he is not interviewing because they haven't won anything.”
a. when one’s data is selected there may appear to be something special going on that would not be remarkable with a broader data set.
b. Humans have won the lottery with regard to physical laws that are conducive to the existence of life.
c. If you keep playing the lottery long enough you’ll win; if we search enough planets, we’ll find life.
d. God influences the lottery and the laws of physics.
9. According to Weinberg, one of the great accomplishments of science is:
a. to make it impossible for intelligent people to be religious.
b. making a constructive dialogue between science and religion possible.
c. to make it possible for intelligent people to not be religious.
d. achieve the end of religion.
e. demonstrate that God is not necessary to explain the laws of physics.
10. Stenger’s conclusion is best understood as:
a. The new convergence of science and religion that has been reported in the media is more between believing scientists and theologians than believers and nonbelievers.
b. The simplest explanation for what we know about the world is that it is natural and needs no supernatural being to explain it.
c. Based on all we currently know about fundamental physics and cosmology, the most logically consistent and parsimonious picture of the universe as we know it is a natural one, with no sign of design or purposeful creation provided by scientific observations.
d. Many different values for the constants in physics would produce long-lived universes that could host the evolution of life.
e. A multiverse is a more parsimonious explanation than a single universe theory.
f. We exist in a universe that has the properties necessary to produce intelligent life.
11. Swinburne’s regularities of co-presence are,
a. uniform
b. present in a watch.
c. spatial
d. temporal
12. An example of something that manifests regularity of co-presence would be,
a. gravity.
b. a restaurant with all its chairs facing the same way.
c. a watch that tells the correct time.
d. two things that are present at the same time and in the same place.
e. the Christian trinity.
13. Swinburne’s regularities of succession are,
a. temporal
b. uniform
c. spatial
d. present in a watch.
14. An example of something that manifest regularities of succession would be,
a. a town with all its roads at right angles.
b. a restaurant with all its chairs facing the same way.
c. a library with all its books arranged alphabetically by author.
d. the predictable properties of gasoline in a combustion engine as the engine runs.
e. the lattice of molecules in salt crystals.
15. Newton’s three laws of motion are an example of,
a. the argument from design.
b. regularities of co-presence.
c. the argument from spatial order.
d. a teleological argument.
e. regularities of succession.
16. Regularities of succession can best be described as,
a. the success of the design argument.
b. natural laws.
c. the lattice of molecules in salt crystals.
d. a library with its books alphabetized by author.
e. a town with all its roads at right angles.
17. The boiling point of sulfur is 444.6° Celsius. Swinburne would describe this as an example of,
a. a logical argument.
b. a regularity of succession.
c. a natural law that is spatial.
d. a regularity of co-presence.
e. None of these answers.
18. Swinburne’s version of the teleological argument focuses on:
a. regularities of succession.
b. regularities of co-presence.
c. Darwin’s claim that “complex animals and plants can be produced through generation by less complex animals and plants.”
d. the fact that nature is a machine-making machine.
19. When Swinburne says, “But from the very nature of science it cannot explain the highest level laws of all; for they are that by which it explains all other phenomena,” he means,
a. Science explains the highest level laws.
b. The laws of nature govern the phenomena that science studies.
c. The most basic tools of explanation that science has are the laws of nature, so there's nothing else science can employ to explain the laws themselves.
d. Science denies the possibility of explaining the highest level laws.
20. Swinburne’s overall conclusion is best stated as:
a. The existence of order in the universe would be impossible without God.
b. God had a variety of reasons for creating an orderly, beautiful, and diverse universe.
c. the existence of order in the universe makes it highly probable that God exists.
d. The existence of order in the universe makes it certain that God exists.