You would not assume that it was made due to random changes in nature; you would think that the watch had a designer. Because it has a purpose (to tell the time) it must have a designer. As the universe also has signs of complexity and intelligence, it too must have a designer? The watch is an unintelligent being in the case, with the designer being the intelligence. If we use analogy to compare the watch to the universe then there must be some intelligent being which directs all unintelligent beings towards their end.
The design argument was formulated by Paley. His watch analogy is an a posteriori argument which gives empirical evidence the structure is that it explains that the existence of God is the best explanation for the evidence available. His argument says that the world and everything in it are so intricate and complex that they must have been designed. He goes on the mention that if he found a watch lying on the ground he would take from it that there must have been a designer due to the organisation of parts put together for a purpose so even if we had no previous knowledge of watchers or makers we would look at all of the small pieces that make up a watch, arranged in a specific way meaning they fulfil the purpose of telling the time and all of those pieces could not have fallen together so therefore must have been designed. This is an analogy of things in the natural world for example, the human eye is made of small parts working together to create the purpose of sight, we infer this must be the result of design not chance.
a) Give an account of the fundamental ideas of the design argument for the existence of God (21 marks) The design argument for the existence of God is also called the teleological argument. The design argument is based on observation on the obvious order in the natural world, to conclude that it’s the result of design not just by chance. The evidence from design indicates that there is a designer and the argument concludes that this designer is God. ‘With such signs of forethought in the design of living creatures, can you doubt they are the work of choice or design?’ Socrates. The design argument is based on the view that the universe has order, purpose and regularity.
Stacey Snyder Professor McMichael Introduction to Philosophy April 08, 2014 Paley’s Teleological Argument In this paper, I will be discussing Paley’s teleological argument for the existence of God. This is a valid argument but in my opinion it is not enough to prove the existence of God. I believe that even if all the premises are true and they relate to the conclusion, which they do, that the argument can still be proven wrong by other theories. Paley’s teleological arguments, also called the design argument, attempts to prove that God exists by proving that God created the earth and created humans. Paley’s version of the argument is commonly recognized by the “watchmaker” analogy which is as follows.
In this paper I will examine and evaluate Cleanthes’s argument from design to the existence of God. I argue that although I begin by examine Cleathes’s argument from design to the existence of God. Cleanthes, a character introduced by David Hume in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, tries to argue that the Universe was created by a designer, presumably God. According to Dan’s analysis at discussion, Cleanthes’s argument takes the following form: “ Premise 1 – The Universe resembles an artifact because: i) It shows a high level of complexity and ii) It has degree of apparently purposive organization Premise 2 – Artifacts are created by designers. Therefore, the Universe was created by a designer.
Explain Paley’s design argument. (25 marks) William Paley (July 1743 – 25 May 1805) was an English Christian apologist, philosopher and utilitarian. He is best known for his account of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work Natural Theology, which made use of the watchmaker analogy. Paley used the watchmaker analogy in his book Natural Theology in 1802. In it, he wrote that if a pocket watch is found on the ground, it seems logical to assume that someone dropped it and that it was made by one or more watchmakers, and not by natural forces.
Explain Paley’s version of the design argument and Darwinist objections to it. William Paley used an analogy of a watch to put across his argument for the Teleological argument, which he wrote in Natural Theology. He wrote about an old fashioned watch, that uses cogs, wheels and springs, with the point that such a watch of that design must have had a designer, so that means that because, like a clockwork watch, the universe is complex, so it must also have a designer. Another example is, if someone found a camera. Paley would suggest that to argue that the camera happened by accident is nonsense.
Thomas Aquinas popularized the cosmological argument, which says that every being that exists in the world is contingent, or dependent. In order to bring anything into being, there must have been at least one noncontingent, or independent, being, and this being is what we refer to as God. The ontological argument states that God is the greatest conceivable being. Because existing is a better quality than not existing, God must exist. The final argument, the teleological argument, states that nature is a very complex system whose parts work together to perform a certain function.
Analyse Hick’s vale of soul making theodicy. (30 marks) John Hick’s vale of soul making theodicy is a modern form of the Irenaean theodicy. This theodicy argues that both natural and moral evil are important, so they have a good purpose and therefore an all loving God is justified in allowing evil. Hick claimed that God had made humans morally imperfect to help them complete the process of creation themselves. He argues that humans are made in the image of God with the potential to accomplish perfection in the future, and then humans will then grow to become the likeness of God.
William Paley is a classical contributor to the DA and like St. Aquinas he believed that the world is too complex and well ordered to have happened by chance therefore it must have designed by a greater being, ‘God’. Paley contributed with his watch