William Paley's Teleological Argument Flashcards
What does William Paley present?
A teleological argument in two parts: Design Qua Purpose and Design Qua Regularity
What analogy does Paley use?
The analogy of the watch
Describe the Analogy of the Watch.
A man walks across a heath and finds a rock. He attributes the existence of the rock to nature. He walks further and stumbles across a watch. After examination he concludes that the watch has a purpose - each tiny cog, wheel and balance inside the watch mechanism contributes to the measurement of time. He concludes that this could not have come about without the agency of a watch maker or designer.
What does Paley compare the complex watch to?
The complexity of universe and things within the universe, which also has a purpose
What is the example Paley gives?
The eye
Describe Paley’s example of the eye.
Even on a small scale, the eye is a complex piece of “machinery”. It is impossible to think of the complexity of an eye with the purpose of seeing, without thinking of a designer.
For Paley, who is the designer?
God
What is another one of Paley’s examples for Design Qua Purpose?
A bird and its wings
How does Paley argue for Design Qua Regularity?
He says there is evidence for a designer in the regularity and order in the universe e.g. relationships between planets, gravity
How does design qua regularity suggest a god?
There must have been a calculating being who purposefully created the universe according to a well constructed plan
What are the weaknesses of Paley?
Hume, Mill, Darwin, Dawkins
What are the strengths of Paley?
Modern developments like the anthropic principle (finely balanced and Goldilocks Zone), aesthetic principle, Harold Morowitz concluded that the universe would have to be trillions of times older and larger for a protein molecule to have occurred by random chance.
