Abstract

The argument of design is not a single, homogeneous structure. Kant, who was familiar only with a modern version, referred to it as the oldest for the existence of God. Old it is indeed, even though we do not have evidence of its use as a proof until Philo. Although Aristotle was the one who developed the very concept of teleology on which all later arguments would be based, he himself used the argument in none of his extant works: the process of adaptation is a work of nature rather than of God.' Even to the Stoics the idea of an ordered cosmos ruled by a divine Providence was more a theological conclusion than a philosophical premise. Instead of proving the presence of a divine Logos in the world, they rather attempted to justify this assumed presence in the face of objections of disorder. Today we would not term such an attempt natural theology but theodicy. Philo, from all appearances, based his argument on Aristotle's lost dialogue.2 The argument as he uses it places most of the emphasis on the harmony in the universe. Later Aristotle's teleological considerations also would be developed into a full-fledged argument. Occasionally the two would run parallel, at other times they would merge. Since this article does not intend to be historical, I omit here the complex development of the two forms and merely take an example of each from Aquinas who gave both their

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