Paley's Teleological Argument Research Paper

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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. When you see a watch with…show more content…
The theory that the earth was created about fourteen billion years ago by a “big bang” in outer space is the standard belief of modern science on how the earth was created. The theory states that the universe began in a hot, dense state and expanded rapidly creating the planets, including the earth, in the process. If this theory is correct, it is evidence against the teleological argument. The big bang theory is a scientific explanation for the creation of the earth, whereas the teleological argument just states that God was the creator of the universe. The teleological theory offers no scientific evidence, or evidence of any kind for the creation of the universe, it is based loosely on an analogy. The analogy opinion is too broad to be valid. I believe that things like volcanos and earthquakes that happen naturally are better explained by science. These things seem more probable in a universe that was created randomly by science, by the big bang, than if the universe was created specifically for a certain function by…show more content…
If you look at the teleological argument in the way that God created mankind because of their intricacy, you would view people sort of like machines. The theory of evolution proves that humans evolved from an ancestor species. Things evolve by mutation, the reason that people’s bodies are the way that they are is because over thousands of years; peoples bodies have adapted to their environment in order to survive. There are many things in a human body that are not perfect. If the teleological argument is correct in saying that God created humans like a machine, then you would expect humans to be perfect creations, but we are not. Humans are flawed in many ways including the fact that we have extra organs, and that our skeletons are not created properly for the way we walk. Humans are not machines in any way, and the fact that we are not perfect machines is explained by the theory of evolution. Therefore the theory of evolution is proof against the teleological argument and that God is the creator of the human race and the earth. I feel that this argument fails to prove the existence of God. There is no real proof that God created the universe or people based on the teleological argument, although it is a valid argument, I just do not think that it is plausible that God created the earth. There are many other theories that give more evidence and better proof that counter the teleological argument. Works
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