The Design Argument

Question 1

Payley’s Design Argument

Answer 1

• made an analogy between the watch and the natural world
• the features of a watch are also observable within nature eg) the eye is designed for vision
• therefore, the universe must of been created by an intelligent designer -> God

Question 2

Anthropic Principle + Best Explanation

Answer 2

• there are two forms of the anthropic principle: weak anthropic principle (universe must have properties necessary for life) and strong anthropic principle (it was necessary for the universe to have the properties it has)

Question 2

Payley’s Design from Regularity

Answer 2

• regularity in the mechanisms of a watch can also be comparable to the universe

Question 3

Critic - Hume on Design Arguments

Answer 3

• our experience of the universe is very small, when we see a house we conclude it was built by an architect/builder
• analogies don’t work well as there are not enough similarities between the watch and the universe
• there could be more than one god for design arguments

Question 4

Alternative - Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Answer 4

• darwins theory of evolution argues that organisms are adapting constantly to a changing environment
• there is a huge diversity of species in the world due to accounts of evolution
• payley asserted organisms had features fine tuned, eg birds to fly BUT darwin argues that species evolved to adapt to a changing environment

Question 5

Design Argument - Inductive

Answer 5

• an inductive argument as it argues that our experience of order and regularity in the universe must be down to god as the designer

Question 6

Design Argument - A Posteriori

Answer 6

• relies on our sense experience of the universe