criticisms

• the main criticism of the design argument come from David Hume

  • it is important to note that Hume died in 1776 before Paley published the design argument, but many of his comments are applicable
• 1. analogies are inappropriate to use

  • some are deliberately chosen as they encourage the idea of a designer
  • a comparison to living organisms would be more appropriate e.g. a vegetable, which grows itself therefore not requiring a designer
• 2. apparent order in the universe could be due to chance

  • the constantly changing arrangements of atoms over an infinite period of time has lead to the inevitable emergence of order in the universe
• 3. the watch analogy is anthropomorphic

  • humans have no knowledge of how universes are made, nor what a universe-maker would look like or what it would take to make one
  • the analogy creates a universe designer in our image
• 4. the designer is not necessarily the God of Christian theism

  • a cause must be proportional to its effect - a lesser being could be responsible
  • the designer is not necessarily a metaphysical being - could have been mortal
  • the universe could've been created by a number of beings, not just one acting alone - design is often a product of team-work
• 5. problem of evil

  • evidence of a flawed design
  • Hume considers God's omnipotence + omnibenevolence to be incompatible with the existence of evil