Design argument

• When did William Paley live?

  18th century
• Paley was a... (theist or atheist)

  theist
• Paley believed that WHAT could give us evidence for God's existence?

  The natural world
• The design argument was in a book by Paley called..


  Natural Theology
• Was Paley the first person to come up with a version of the design argument?

  No, eg Aquinas also had a version of this in the 13th century
• What is another name for the Design argument?

  Teleological argument
• "Telos" comes from the Greek meaning..

  "End" or "purpose"
• The Design argument is an a posteriori argument, meaning...


  It is based on observable facts or experience
• Firstly, in Paley's explanation of his argument he dismissed a stone because..

  it doesn't seem to have a purpose, it might just always have been there.
• If you found a watch...

  it would not occur to you to think that it didn't have a purpose or had been there for ever.
• When examining a watch, you can see that it...

  is complex and serves a purpose (even if you didn't know what it was)
• We can tell the watch wouldn't have come about by accident, there must be a....

  Watchmaker (someone who designed the watch).
• Having concluded a watch must have a watchmaker, in the next step of his argument...


  Paley turns his attention to the natural world
• There are so many examples of complex natural objects, which show fitness for purpose, just like a watch. For example,


  The human eye, the bucket orchid, the sword-billed hummingbird.
• Since design-like properties made us conclude a watch had a designer, we should also conclude that design-like properties in nature means there must be a...

  Designer of the natural world
• The designer of the universe would need certain characteristics:


  Omnipotence, creator, eternal
• Paley concluded that the designer of the universe must be...

  God
• This section of Paley's argument is referred to as Design qua Purpose, which means...


  The way in which things appear to be made to achieve a purpose or goal, such as an eye functions in a way that achieves sight.