Design Argument Flashcards
William Paley
watch analogy
the watch is of immense complexity and therefore has a creator
like a watch, the universe has parts that fit and work together
3 technical terms
Posteriori-known after experience
Empirical knowledge- via 5 senses
Inductive argument- if the premises are true the conclusion is likely
Deductive argument- if the premises are true the conclusion is definite
Thomas Aquinas
There is beneficial order in the universe.
This beneficial order could not happen by chance.
Many objects do not have the intelligence to work towards an end or purpose.
Therefore, they must be directed by something that does have intelligence.
Therefore, God exists as the explanation of beneficial order.
Michael Behe
Challenges evolution
Some things in nature are irreducibly complex
For example, the bacteria flagellum has 40 proteins and if one were removed it would have no use suggesting it must have been designed whole by God
Frederick Tennant’s asethetic argument
Challenges theory of evolution which suggests all life on earth has developed to survive
Beauty in the universe goes beyond that which is necessary to survive.
For example, music, art and literature provide no purpose and are therefore the “handicraft of God in nature”
Frederick Tennant’s anthropic principle
The universe is specificallt designed to support human life.
For example, the distance between the earth and sun, the amount of oxygen particles in the air and the amount of gravity.
David Hume’s bad analogy criticism
Analogy between the universe and humans is not a good one.
When we come across a house we can infer that there was a designer because we have experience of houses being designed.
We have no experiences in universes being designed.
The universe is a unique object that cannot be compared to a house/watch.
David Hume’s multiplicity of causes criticism
There may be any number of caudes for the apparent design of the universe.
For example, the universe bears a greater resemblance to animal bodies than human art.
We have as much evidence the world was “spun out the bowels of an infinite spider” as it was created by an intelligent God.
David Hume’s principle of causality criticism and botched worlds
To infer from what we see around us the designer can only be thought to have the qualities necessary for creating the world as it is
Garden analogy
We have no good reason to infer the designer was infinite as a finite being can create the finite things around us.
We could not think the designer perfect as the world is not.
God could have taken many attepts to make the world as good as it is.
Swinburne’s regularities of succession
Regularities in space such as the development of the human eye can be explained by evolution as each stage is beneficial, for exampke longer lashes to shielf from dust. However, this does not explain the regularities of succession(time) such as why we orbit the sun regularily every 24 hours. God creates regularities within time in the same way we create order in the human world.
Fred Hoyles Strength
The likelihood of the world happening by chance is the same likelihood as a hurricane passing throuhh a scrapyard and assembling a plane
Epicurean hypothesis
there is an infinite number of universes and worlds therefore the fact that one is designed is by chance not creation
Richard Dawkins Blind Watchmaker criticism
God is not required to explain complexity. For example the human eye evolved over millions of years from the simple ability of cells to distinguish light from dark to its current complexity through step by step evolution.
