Episode 12. Let's move away from theology and Christianity and now introduce philosophy and some general categories. The term philosophy is made up of the Greek philos, which means beloved and friend, and Sophia is the term for wisdom and understanding. Our first category is worldview, which is a term for our personal philosophy. These are beliefs concerning the ultimate character of the world, our place in the world, and how to live in the world. It is clear then that everyone has a worldview or personal philosophy. A goal of this course will be for you to become aware of your worldview and to develop it further. Metaphysics is a very important philosophical category, especially in science and religion. This term is made up of two Greek words, meta is a preposition that means behind, beyond, and after, and phocis is the noun, meaning nature. It is also the root of the English words physics and physical. Simply defined, the word metaphysics refers to our ultimate beliefs. These are beliefs about ultimate reality behind and beyond nature. Included under the category of metaphysics are religious and philosophical beliefs. In the light of this definition, it's clear that everyone has a metaphysics. You may not have known this term, but you definitely have ultimate beliefs and therefore, you have your own personal metaphysics. Intelligent design is another crucial category in science and religion. Simply defined, intelligent design is the belief that the beauty, complexity, and functionality in nature reflect rationality and the creative work of an intelligent designer. When you look at the natural world, you get an inkling that there is someone or something behind it. If so, you believe in intelligent design. The next two categories are extremely important. The term teleology comes from the Greek noun telos, which means plan, purpose, goal, final end. Teleology is a belief that the universe and life have an ultimate plan and an ultimate purpose, and that the world is moving toward an ultimate goal or final end. Teleologists believe that their teleology is based in some ultimate being or power. Teleologists also believe that intelligent design is real. The category dysteleology derives from the German dysteleologie, which is made up of the prefix dis, meaning to lack, and the noun teleology, which is teleology. Dysteleology is the belief that the universe and life have no ultimate plan, no ultimate purpose, no ultimate goal, and no ultimate final end. Dysteleologists believe that the universe and life arose to nothing but blind chance. Dysteleologists also believe that intelligent design is only an illusion. There is no better example of a dysteleologists than the famous atheist Richard Dawkins. In quote 4, which we saw earlier, Dawkins states, "The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference." Now that you have some philosophical categories, it's clear that Dawkins rejects intelligent design. He also rejects teleology in that the universe has no ultimate purpose. Focusing specifically on the topic of intelligent design, Dawkins states in quote 5, "The complexity of living organisms is matched by the elegant efficiency of the apparent design." Dawkins would be the first to acknowledge that nature is beautiful, complex, and functional. However, he would say that this evidence is merely an appearance of design. In other words, nature only gives the illusion of being design. As a result, the natural world does not reflect rationality and it does not point to a designer. End of episode.