A02

Question 1

Outline the criticisms from David Hume.

Philosopher critic #1

Answer 1

Criticised the design arguement in 8 ways:
(You only need to know a few)

1) How do we know the designer was God?
2) Watch analogy is flawed - We know everything about a watch but we still have questions about the universe.
3) If the world had a designer, who designed that the design and so on?
4) It makes God too much like a human (anthropomorphic)
5) Why should there only be one designer? When building a house, there are multiple builders, not just one.
6) The world is a living organism so we can’t compare it to a watch.
7) The universe could be the result of chance periods of chaos and then order.
8) Bad watch = Bad designer. The worlds imperfect and flawed, suggests an imperfect and flawed creator. Ruling out God as the designer as he is omni-potent and could create a perfect world easily.

Question 2

Outline the criticisms from J.S Mill

Philosopher Critic #2

Answer 2

Mill argues that nature is ‘guilty’ of serious crimes which go unpunished, for example an earthquake. These crimes wouldn’t go unpunished if they were done by humans. This natural evil is evidence God is not omni-beneveleant and therefore doesn’t exist - not a designer.

Question 3

Outline the criticisms of Immanuel Kant

Psychologist Critic #1

Answer 3

Kant argued that the universe may actually be in a state of chaos and confusion. Our minds assimilate and organise sense experiences into a perceived order.

“We all wear spectacles of reason”.

Question 4

Outline the criticisms of Sigmund Freud

Psychologist Critic #2

Answer 4

In his book “Future of an Illusion” (1927) Freud suggests that religion arises from a fear of a chaotic and unordered world. Religious faith is an illusion based on “wishful thinking”

Question 5

Outline the criticisms of Darwin

Scientist Critic #1

Answer 5

In his book “Origin of the Species” (1859) he proposes theories of “Survival of the Fittest” and “Natural Selection”. This suggests that a designer didn’t design us with a purpose, we developed it through evolution.

Question 6

Outline the criticisms of Dawkins

Scientist Critic #2

Answer 6

In his book “The Selfish Gene” (1976) he suggests a purely mechanistic universe. He explains it’s genes that drive evolution in their struggle for survival and the universe is in fact a result of science and again, evolution