Please summarise FR Tennant's Aesthetic argument

FR Tennant (in his book Philosophical theology 1930) posits two arguments. The aesthetic argument and the anthropic argument. The aesthetic argument is based on a human being's appreciation of beauty in the universe such as our appreciation of art, music, literature and other beautiful things. Darwin's natural selection and theory of 'survival of the fittest' does not explain our appreciation of such beauty in nature. FR Tennant argues that God's existence is probable and states 'Nature is not just beautiful in places; it is saturated with beauty.' A lovely quote in my opinion. So to sum up. The aesthetic argument notes how the universe possesses a natural beauty beyond that which is neccessary to live and therefore cannot be explained by Darwin's evolution in his book The origin of species.

WM
Answered by Will M. Religious Studies tutor

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