The Fifth of the Five Ways

[Neo-Scholastic]

Of COURSE the Fifth Way is an intelligent design argument. Instead of Feser, try reading Aquinas - he said it was an intelligent design argument.

We see that things which lack knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that they achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly. Now whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is directed by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God (Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Article 3, Question 2).

(the refutation of the Fifth Way is painfully simple, but beyond the scope of this thread)

Boru

Hmmm...when I read the 5W it seems much more to me about physical dispositions and the regularity of natural processes. Glass is disposed to shatter, as opposed to bounce. Wax melts in heat, as opposed to exploding. IMHO the 5W is a refutation of an arbitrary and absurd reality. Instead, we live in an appartly rationally ordered world. God is the the order but the seemingly cause of this order. Aquinas is setting up God to become the onltologically transcendent object of the scientific method. Brilliant really. Are you sure you're not reading "Origin of Species" back into where it never really was? If so, your painfully simple refuation may or may not apply.