Design argument

• Design Argument


  Arguments for the existence of God
• Paley's analogical argument


  Presentation of the Design Argument
• There are many versions of the Design Argument, but you only need to consider those from Hume and Paley
• The only criticisms you need to consider are those from Hume, as stated on page 33
• A posteriori


  Arguments that depend on sense experience
• Empirical


  An argument that is based on the experience of the senses (touch, taste, hearing, smell and sight)
• Inductive


  When used of arguments, refers to those based on probability
• Analogical


  An analogy is an attempt to explain the meaning of something which is difficult to understand by comparing it with something that is more securely within our reference-frame
• Natural theology


  The view that questions about God's existence, nature and attributes can be answered by reasoning, science, history and observation rather than by appeal to special revelation
• Special revelation


  Refers to scripture or some form of religious experience
• Paley's analogy


  1. Complexity

  2. Purpose (hence Paley's argument is also referred to as the Teleological Argument)

  3. Regularity
• Illustrations given by Paley to support his argument


  • The eye is perfectly adapted for vision
  • The fins and gills of fish are perfect for living in water
  • Birds' beaks, wings and feathers are perfect for flight
  • There is regularity in the science of planetary orbits and on earth of the seasons
• Paley's analogy is based on a comparison between the features of two different things
• Paley's approach is that of natural theology, which makes no appeal to any form of special revelation, such as the Bible or religious experience
• Paley's argument is used on three observations of the world: complexity, purpose, and regularity
• Paley's argument is also referred to as the Teleological Argument
• Paley's argument is a posteriori, meaning it depends on sense experience
• Paley's argument is inductive, meaning it is based on probability
• Paley's argument is analogical, meaning it uses an analogy to explain something difficult to understand
• William Paley: '"The marks of design are too strong to be gotten over. Design must have had a designer. That designer must have been a person. That person is God."'
• Criticisms of design arguments


  • David Hume
  • Typical mistakes when referring to Hume's criticisms
  • Rejection of the idea of design
  • The problem of evil
  • Anthropomorphic language
• Hume died several years before Paley's Natural Theology was published
• Hume rejected the idea of design, suggesting that the apparent order could be due to chance over long periods of time
• Hume suggested that the universe seems to oscillate between periods of order and periods of chaos, all by the same laws
• Hume argued that little can be said about any designer, as we have no knowledge of how things are made
• Hume considered the mechanistic analogy to be anthropomorphic, as it attributes human characteristics to non-human entities
• Hume argued that the designer is not necessarily the God of Christian theology, as the designer could be mortal and may be long dead
• Hume considered the existence of so much moral and natural evil in the world to be evidence of a flawed design, incompatible with the idea of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent creator God
• The existence of evil


  Calls into question the character of a creator God
• Paley's argument cannot offer absolute proof of God's existence, as deductive arguments can
• The Design Argument is inductive, so it can never be more than probable
• Most things we accept as true in life are based on inductive arguments, and the stronger the evidence, the more probably true a claim is
• Some would argue that the laws of nature require explanation, and that we cannot be sure the multiverse theory is true, so the challenges do not necessarily diminish the probability that Paley's argument is true
• Paley's argument is graphically and empirically based, and is consistent with biblical teaching that there is a guiding hand directing the whole of nature and human lives in a purposeful way
• Paley's reasoning and appeal to observation, together with the simplicity of his argument and its reinforcement with the Cosmological Argument, provide strong support for theists
• Belief that


  Belief in the existence of God
• Belief in


  Commitment to God
• For fideists, rational arguments play no part in faith as they do not lead to commitment
• Paley's argument does not successfully address the issue of evil
• Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth