The Design Argument

1. The application to the natural world

1.1. The eye: all creatures are adapted for vision, an eye has all the right parts to achieve its purpose just as the watch has all the right parts in the right arrangement to achieve its purpose

1.2. Fish have fins and gills - adapted to live underwater

2. Further reading - the aesthetic argument (Tennant)

2.1. • World posses a natural beauty beyond which is necessary to live • Some beauty is part of order – changing seasons • Also, what humankind appreciates – art, music, literature

3. Paley's anticipation of criticisms

3.1. - if the watch is broken or doesn't work properly then the argument is weakened

3.1.1. Answer = you would still know that the broken watch was designed

4. Further reading - the argument from probability (Swinburne)

4.1. The evidence of design and order in the universe increases the probability of the existence of God. – uses Ockham’s Razor

4.2. He observed 7 features of the universe that increases the probability of the universe being designed: the very existence of the universe, the fact that the universe is ordered, the existence of consciousness, human opportunities to do good, the pattern of history, the evidence of miracles, and religious experience.

4.3. Swinburne argues that God is the best explanation for the design in the universe, the universe is not only ordered, but also contains within it everything that is necessary for survival.

5. Paley's argument

5.1. Presented his argument in Natural Theology in 1802

5.2. Based on three observations of the world: its complexity, its regularity, its purpose

5.3. Some objects in the world show clear evidence that they were designed because they exhibit complexity and regularity, from which we can infer that hey were made for a purpose

5.4. Likely the world was designed

6. Paley's analogical argument

6.1. The watch analogy:

6.2. because there is a design, there must be a designer

7. Hume's criticisms

7.1. (Paley was aware of Hume's criticisms as Hume wrote them before Paley)

7.2. Even if the world was designed there is no proof that this was God, a lesser being could have been responsible

7.3. Evil and suffering exists so the designer is either limited or evil

7.4. Analogies between the universe and man-made machines are unsound

7.5. To make an analogy between the designers of human machines and the designer of the universe is anthropomorphic

7.6. The universe could have developed into a comparatively ordered state simply by chance