An Argument for Design

In the argument, “The Argument From Design” from Natural Theology, William Paley argues that living things are like watches in one crucial respect: both exhibit design, the universe with everything in it. Paley thinks that people assume that the universe works for a purpose like the watch does. So, people would reasonably conclude that the universe has a designer or creator, like the watch does, God. Although, atheists deny that the universe is designed. But, shouldn’t there be some knowledgeable or intelligent creator to guide us towards our purpose to function in life?

William Paley’s teleological argument (also known as the argument from design) is an attempt to prove the existence of god. This argument succeeds in proving that while existence was created by an aggregation of forces, to define these forces, as a conscious, rational, and ultimately godlike is dubious. Although the conclusions are valid, the argument makes several logical errors. The teleological argument relies on inductive reasoning, rendering the argument itself valid, but unsound. The argument fails to apply its own line of reasoning to itself, resulting in infinite regression. Beyond the scope of its logical flaws, the arguments content lacks accurate comparisons. The argument hinges on a

The outline of the design argument is that the universe has order and purpose and is regular, the complexities of the universe demonstrate some form of design, a design requires a

Question 1) C.S Lewis like many of us was skeptical about several arguments made by intelligent design alone. After many years of research, he came up with arguments that demonstrate the world was not created by a divine intelligent design alone.

The Design Argument The name teleological is derived from the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’. Thus nature is viewed as directed in order that something beneficial may result. More popularly it is referred to as the ‘argument from design’, but this wording assumes the very thing that has to be proved. A better description would be the ‘argument for design’.

In Paley’s “Teleological Argument”, he argues that just like an object in the world has an intelligent designer behind it, the universe most have an intelligent designer as well. This created must had been God. That there’s a “designer force” and that “designer force” is God. He argue that the supernatural force created the way we act today, that the supernatural force( god) organized the way the universe works, which makes an intelligent design( Paley 53).

Paley's Argument For Intelligent Design and Its Criticisms Paley's teleological argument defends the idea of the existence of god through the idea of consistent and orderly design. Paley uses an example of finding a rock on the ground and then finding a watch. He argues that finding the watch, with all of its perfectly fit working parts, suggests an intelligent creator. In his argument, the watch is employed as an analogy for the universe.

The Teleological Argument defends the proof for the existence of a God, it is also called The Design Argument. It discusses the intelligent design in the universe. The supporting theory behind this is that the universe is so vastly complex and well balanced that only a creator could have designed it. All of the sophistication and detail could not have occurred by chance. When examining the immense universe and seeing the complexity, intricate detail, and unique order there are a variety of explanations for how it may have come to existence, however because of these complexities and order only a designer could have designed it. The basic idea of the teleological argument is that the world does have intelligent purpose, by looking at nature and seeing its order unity and designed complexity. If one is to look at all living creature, the existence of DNA shows intelligent design. Someone or something had to design the information imprinted in the DNA. There is no absolute way this could have happened by chance.Therefore, there must be an intelligent designer . There must be a God. Even if we apply scientific theory; I.e. The Big Bang theory, The teleological argument supports the existence of a big banger. This big banger has always existed; not requiring a beginning or an end.

To start, I will present the argument of the universe being similar to a machine. Cleanthes compares the universe to a machine by saying that both a machine and the universe have many parts that all work together. Because the universe and a machine are similar, they must have similar causes. These causes being an intelligent designer. An example he gives to explain this is a book. He says that a book simply does not grow from a tree, and the words don’t simply appear in logical order. There has to be a designer, someone who put the words in a way that makes

Evolution proves that there is no reason to credit the design of the universe to God, and therefore, atheists have no reason to believe that God does exist. It is much more logical for atheists to base their beliefs on something that exists rather than on possibilities that have no way of being proven. With that said, atheists can reasonably believe that there is no God or designer of the universe because there is no evidence showing that there is. Using the strength of Darwinian theory, it can be hypothesized that the universe came from no intentional designer. Rather, it came from the unplanned and mindless processes of natural selection. A look into nature reveals such processes; slow and gradual changes have been found in the historical

Similarly, if all the pieces of the universe did already exist and God only used his Word to piece everything together, what are the odds that someone other than the ultimate creator, God, had caused existence? In addition, theological observations were almost all made from human observations (as seen in the Bible); the experiences of individuals over the course of time are still considered insufficient evidence towards the existence of God. Paley asserts that it is much more likely that a divine being has created earth and the universe other than a group of coincidental and random group of

A design argument is more commonly know as a Teleological one, which is an argument for the existence of a creator or god “based on perceived evidence of deliberate design in the natural or physical world”.The argument has been discussed all the way back to the time of Socrates and Plato. In my essay I will be evaluating one argument put forward by a famous philosopher, in this case William Paley, an English clergyman born in 1743, in which he tries to show similarities in the design of nature and the design of man made artefacts.

Some, such as Paley, aimed to defend this idea using teleological arguments. Such arguments insist on the existence of God by “attempting to identify features of the world that constitute evidence of intelligent design and inferring God’s existence as the best explanation for these features.” Paley compares a watch to living organisms by analogizing: “Watches are complex and good at doing their job (i.e. keeping time). Therefore, it is a result of intelligent design. Living organisms are complex and good at doing their job (i.e. surviving and reproducing). Therefore, they are a result of intelligent design.” Paley believes that if a watchmaker made a watch, then an intelligent designer made other elaborate things, such as the eye or flowers. A problem with this reasoning is that analogies are comparisons, not evidence. Comparing two not identical, but similar things does not make their conclusions equivalent; if one conclusion is true for one argument, it is not guaranteed to be true for the other. In this situation, concluding that a watch has an intelligent designer does not validate the notion that living organisms do as well. In rebuttal, theists attempt to thwart this with the theory of irreducible complexity, or the belief that some traits are too complex to have been produced by evolution’s slow step-by-step process. Similar to the watch, theists believe life is too complex to have been affected by evolution, and the best explanation for living organisms is that they are a result of intelligent

There is no objective evidence to demonstrate the existence of nature’s creator. If we were to think the design argument was reasonable, then one must also take under consideration the amount of ‘creators’ are required

The Design Argument attempts to explain that the presence of purpose in an object requires a designer. The universe as well as all living beings is founded on complexity. The complex order of parts that has a function is in itself evidence of purpose, of a maker. The Design Argument states that because certain biological features seem to be designed, they must have an intelligent designer. Hence the appearance of something designed marks a designer. An example of an object that exists due to something else is a watch. A watch needs a watchmaker, just like a house needs a house builder. Everything that has come to exist needed to have a constructor with a motive in mind.