Hume’s Criticisms of the Design Argument

• Who lived first?

  Hume
• What is the God of classical theism?

  God is all loving and all powerful but he cannot exist in this way if evil exists
• Why is it a problem that we did not witness the creation of the universe?

  We cannot prove whether it was God, science or another being that created the universe.
• How is the house analogy relevant to point 2?


  When a builder builds a house we know that it has been built because we can have seen it. Whereas we didn't witness the formation of the universe so we don't know who created it.
• What is polytheism?


  Belief in multiple beings
• How does the ship analogy support point 3?

  Hume looks at a ship and notices that multiple different people help build the ship - the same could be said about the universe (multiple Gods)
• What is the Epicurean Hypothesis?


  Order can come from chaos
• What idea does Epicurus put across?

  Infinite time; it is inevitable that atoms would form as they have at this moment in time
• What example is there of the Epicurean Hypothesis and infinite time?


  If monkeys had infinite time eventually they would be able to write a Shakespeare play. This is because eventually the atoms would form to type the exact letters for a whole Shakespeare play.
• What does the 'universe is like a vegetable' idea criticise?

  Machines
• What does the 'universe is like a vegetable' mean?


  That the universe grows on its own accord
• What is explained in point 6?

  God cannot be explained any more than the creation of the universe. We experienced the universe, but not God
• What is anthropomorphism in relation to religion?


  Making God seem human like
• What is point 8?

  Design could have been the work of lesser Gods or an apprentice God that has gone on to create bigger and better things