Cleanthes Argument

Cleanthes’ argument begins by predicating that God is a benevolent and all-perfect being. This led to the study of the order and design of the universe coming from the Teleological Argument from Design. The world is the most perfect, complicated machine ever made. “The curious adapting of means to ends, throughout all nature, resembles exactly, though it much exceeds, the productions of human. designs, thought, wisdom, and intelligence.” (Cleanthes) We know what human traits it takes to make machines. – wisdom, thought, intelligence, so God must have these traits, but perfect them. The Universe resembles a finely tuned machine. All finely tuned machines are created by an intelligent designer. The Universe is created by an intelligent designer.
Slight changes in one place mean vastly different changes elsewhere. So since the design and complexity of a watch are obviously different from the universe’s structure, why assume the designer of the universe would be anything like a human or a watch designer? It is highly presumptuous to believe that we can understand the nature of God,or absurd to attach human qualities to God. By representing the Deity as so intelligible, comprehensible, and so similar to the human mind is a fault of narrow thinking, making ourselves a model of the whole universe. All the sentiments of the human mind (resentment, love, pity, envy) have a plain reference to the state and situation of humans. They are calculated for preserving the existence and promoting the activity of such a being in these circumstances. It seems unreasonable to transfer these sentiments to a supreme existence. Why assume one reason shapes the universe the way it is? If we want to believe exactly one force shapes the universe, it is questionable if it is one ultimate cause. There is reason to doubt
God is mysterious. We cannot break God down into parts. All at once, he has all these disagreeing elements: love and jealousy, he exists in the past, present, and future. How can we understand that, let alone break it down into parts? Cleanthes replies by saying this doesn’t sound like God has a mind at all. This doesn’t even sound like a Christian God. Introducing another opposition by Philo: Why do we have to think God has a mind? We can possibly agree a mind is needed to put order into things. We are looking for what orders the universe. Philo’s arguments against Cleanthes’ Anthropomorphism: Trying to make other things more human-like. Arguably, the universe may not be infinite, so why assume God is infinite? There is not enough evidence in modern physics to support whether the universe is infinite or not. Arguably, the universe may not be perfect, but chaotic. So how can we be sure that God is perfect if we have an imperfect universe? How can we assume God intended to make it perfect? But if it must be perfect, how do we know if God just so happened to make it perfect? We often stumble into making things better than we know how to do intentionally. Why can’t we consider more than one God? It seems like we can’t say God has a mind, but God is the universe’s mind, maintaining order within itself. “If we are not sure of any of these, how do we know if God is worthy of worship and praise instead of mockery?” (Demea) A new