Peter Piper Picked A Perfect Pebble - The Teleological Argument

This will be the first in a series of me loosely tying the various senses to various spheres of religion I want to explore. First up, sight. Vision. The sense that many claim to be the most important. And perhaps the sense that poses the largest challenge to spiritual belief. If you can’t see it, then it stands to reason that it doesn’t exist, right? Well, theologians have come up with many theories that claim to prove the exact opposite. Let’s explore one of the most prevalent ones.

The teleological argument originated as part of Plato’s philosophy (Laws) and was expanded upon by Aristotle (Physics and Metaphysics). It represents one of the foundational arguments that make up natural theology, the argument for the existence of God without divine revelation. There are many visual representations of the teleological argument, but here is one that is frequently used.

You are walking along a beach that is littered with pebbles. After walking for a while, you look down at your feet and notice something particular. You see a pebble that stands out from all the others. It is perfectly round, perfectly smooth. You pick up the pebble and roll it around in your hand. There are no bumps, no scrapes, no blemishes. If you were to skip this rock across the water it feels as if it would skip around the world and come right back to you. It is perfect.

So what does this mean? Well, the teleological argument relies upon the frequently repeated fact that everything must come from something. It is Descartes’ bread and butter and Newton’s inspiration. Now, I personally don’t believe that the world is as cut and dry as would allow for making this very broad claim. We don’t know enough about nothing to say confidently that nothing can come from it. But for the sake of argument, and a much more concise blog post, let’s say this is true. Everything must come from something. 

The teleological argument takes this fact and applies it to the pebble. This perfect pebble must have come from somewhere. Given this, what are the chances that nature produced such a perfect product by mere chance? If you consider all the many other rocks in the world that are not perfect, it seems highly unlikely that all elements of this rock came together in such a way that it is perceived as perfect. A much more reasonable explanation, according to the teleological argument, is that this pebble is a result of intelligent design. Specifically, the kind of intelligent design that only an all powerful God could provide. This is where vision reenters the equation. No, we may not be able to see God. But we are able to see a clear byproduct of God. And if our senses are to be trusted (which Descartes says they must be), then when we hold this perfect pebble in our hand we are looking at clear, indisputable proof, of the existence of God.

Of course, if it were this simple, it wouldn’t be considered an argument. Here’s where I run into problems with the teleological argument and why I have trouble accepting it as truth. The reason also, fittingly, comes down to vision. Let’s go back to our beach scenario. The premises of the teleological argument are all contingent on us finding this perfect pebble. But how did we find this perfect pebble in the first place? Keep in mind, we are walking along a beach that is full of rocks and pebbles. Amidst a sea of imperfect rocks, we found a perfect one. Why? Here’s the interesting thing about vision in humans: our eyes will always be drawn to that which we are not used to seeing. It’s why you can’t peel your eyes away when you see a car stopped on the side of the road. It’s why films like The Matrix are able to take advantage of the way we are used to “seeing” to provide an uncanny and unsettling experience. And it’s why when there is a perfect pebble on the beach, your eyes are inevitably drawn to it. When you look at the statistics and ask what the chances are that this one rock is perfect, then yeah. It’s pretty astronomical. But if you take into consideration the fact that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other pebbles on this beach, the chance that one of them will be “perfect” becomes much more reasonable. I mean, who hasn’t at one point in their life picked up a rock or seashell that seemed so perfect that you felt you had to keep it? Our perfect pebble may be an anomaly, but that’s exactly why we picked it.

While it was once at the forefront of a critical movement in theology and philosophy, the teleological argument has lost steam as religious attitudes have shifted. But this doesn’t change the fact that it paved the way for much of the natural theology that is still utilized today. And the question that it hinges upon, “can something come from nothing?”, is just as important as ever. Will these questions bear fruit? Will we ever come up with an answer? I guess we’ll just have to wait and “see” ;)