Analysis Of Paley And Aquinas

In his third argument about arguing from mind to design, he states that using the mind as a representation is only a small part of universe (Paley, 1802, 197). For example, a watch must have had a watchmaker because such a complex idea and mechanism could not have just come from nature. A creator with prior knowledge of the watch must have created it. Therefore, the universe must have had a creator. This creator was God.

Firstly, Paley concentrates in the process leading to the creation of the watch. The process for creating a watch is very systematic and involves knowledge of mechanical engineering, a trade known to few men. Yet, it is not necessary to know the inner workings of the watch to use it on a daily basis: it is only necessary to understand the relationship between the position of the watch's hands to the sunrise and sunset of day. Paley concludes that even though he could not create a watch, some supreme being could create such watch. In other words, anything that shows evidence of creation has a creator and such creator exists or has existed at one point in time.

Natural theology refers to truths known about God when reflecting on nature, environment and living organisms in the world. William Paley was born in seventeen forty-three, and he got ordained as an Anglican priest in the year seventeen sixty-seven-a year later he became a professor of theology at Cambridge University. He believes that the design of creation in living things stands as a prime indicator of the existence of God in our society. Paley argues that in the perfection or imperfection of nature and machines are attributed to a creator and the capability to reproduce is as a result of a supreme being. In the case study that illustrates his belief he asks the reader to imagine a scenario; when crossing a heath, you come across a watch on the ground. To this effect one observes that all its parts have been designed to achieve the desired purpose of measuring time; an intellect would not think its existence is by chance but the work of a talented artisan.

A watch embodies all appearances of intelligent design. It has purpose, a certain disposition or instruction. It is a complex object; all parts are needed for it to fulfil its purpose and we could not substitute any of these parts. It is made of a specific set of materials; we do not find smelted gold or blown glass naturally occurring in nature. The watch also has a regular motion. All these properties and dispositions a watch personifies show it is a creation and not just a naturally occurring object. The same is said about the human eye through analogy. This is the reason William Paley chose to use the watch as well as the human eye to highlight his argument for design in his work Natural Theology, (1802). The teleological argument he puts forth is one we can know empirically through observation. It is not the purpose of the argument to fully convince us that the argument is correct in every way. The purpose is to offer the audience a logical and suggestible conclusion. However the argument

This argument appears to be logically valid, as shown in appendix 1 which displays a truth table for the teleological argument. This theory claiming that the universe is designed would subsequently mean that evil and suffering which occurs in the world is simply a part of the overall picture. Evil is therefore neither good nor bad but is purely just apart of the design and nature of the universe. William Paley, a philosopher created the classic statement of the teleological argument, likening the universe to a watch. Paley argued, “If we find a pocket watch in a field, we immediately infer that it was produced not by natural processes acting blindly but by a designing human intellect” (Natural Theology, Ch 1). The complexity, order and function of the watch suggests design. This can be compared to the universe as the universe implies an intricacy and precision that calls for the existence of a designer. However, some might claim that this is a weak analogy as there is not a significant resemblance between natural objects and objects

This book was even a required textbook for students to have at Cambridge up until the 20th century. Paley’s lectures and books presented a utilitarian view of the world and tried proving that God was the reason for existence. Of his many works, his most famous one (and the last one before his death in 1805) is called Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature (1802). In Natural Theology, Paley begins with a metaphor of God as a watchmaker. He argues that God can be understood by observing the natural world and the only conclusion in this metaphor is that the watch or ‘design’ must have had a maker or ‘designer’ (whom is

William Paley and David Hume adopt opposite positions in their critique of order as evidence for a supreme creator. Paley describes the scenario of a watch found in the middle of a field. He suggests that the discovery of such a highly ordered object within a less ordered environment necessitates an intelligent designer as an explanation for its presence. He goes on to compare the universe to such a watch, arguing that every “manifestation of design” evident in human culture can be seen on a more complex scale in the universe, suggesting the presence of an intelligent and superior creator. Hume proposes that the dissimilarity between the workings of the universe and human “artifacts” is too great to allow for such a conclusion, arguing instead

And, since two of the three criteria are met, we can then assume that there is a creator. We live in a world uniquely equipped to support mankind. There is only one explanation for this and that is that the world was designed by an intelligent creator. This omni-god must have had humans in mind when he created the world. (Holt) And, since everything we need is here on earth, it could not possibly be here by chance. There was no random selection or chance that just happened to serve all of our needs. Paley explains that it is perfectly logical to make the leap from watchmaker to omni-God. With concepts so complex as those found in nature, there is no doubt that they required a creator. There is no need to question anything that Paley asserts in his analogy between the watch and the world.

The designer designs the blueprints however since everything is a design, the designer themselves also must have a blueprint meaning something has to have designed the designer. This is where the argument starts to make its rapid decline. A designer can be anyone or anything, due to this it means it also doesn't have to be God. There are also designs that have many many flaws. Humans can drown, get cancer, need sleep, starve, and

Design qua purpose looks at the evidence of design in relation to the ways in which the parts of the universe appear to fit together for some purpose. William Paley put forward the most famous form of the design qua purpose argument in his book Natural Theology (Paley & Ware, 1857). Paley used the analogy of a watch and suggested

Throughout the history of mankind nearly all populations of humanity have come to the conclusion that an intelligent being of some sort had a role in the creation of life. Why has nearly every civilization developed a belief that someone or something shaped our world and actively plays a part in our lives? Through science we have discovered the reasons for many of our worldly problems and no longer attribute terrible misfortunes such as disease or drought to the punishments of the gods as earlier humans had done. Recent scientific discoveries since the introduction of The Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin have caused arguments over whether intelligent design is wrong or if intelligent design even have a objective place in science. Modern scientists who adhere to a purely evolutionary viewpoint of life will claim that earlier humans did not have the benefit of current evidence for evolution and God therefore was the only explanation our ancestors could comprehend. Investigation into the microscopic interworking’s of living cells by researchers such as Michael Behe present many ideas that attempt to prove God through intelligent design. The film Unlocking the Mysteries of Life attempts to present evidence for intelligent design through the specialized structure and actions of cells. Proof for intelligent design is not revealed due to failure to present evidence of irreducible complexity, invoking intelligent design to explain scientific mysteries and misrepresenting the

I don’t feel that Paley’s analogy of the watch was a problem, because he is showing how intricate all the parts to the watch are and how similar the watchmaker is to God. If the watch had a part misplaced it wouldn’t work. Take our oxygen away or our plants and trees, and see what happens to us. God has created a very sophisticated system that involves everything good in the world. There are no mistakes that were created by God, because then the system wouldn’t work. If the watch has some part misplaced it won’t work. I also believe he is say that finding a watch instead of a rock could be God’s way of enlightening him. For example, the fact that you find the watch and investigate it, could bring you to a knowledge of something bigger than

During the Medieval Period, philosophers shifted their focus primarily to proving the existence of God, as well as other religious tenets. Two Saints of the Catholic Church, St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas, developed their own respective proofs for the existence of God. These proofs have gained fame over the subsequent centuries and still face debate and comparison today. Although both St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas offer proofs for the existence of God, the proofs differ drastically due to the distinct argumentative methods utilized by each author, as well as the differing overall strengths and weaknesses each proof yields.

In his work Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas provides fives different ways to prove the existence of God. However, in this discussion I will only be focusing on his first argument, which is his theory of motion. In which St. Thomas establishes a deductive argument to prove Gods existence through his theory of motion which stems from some of Aristotle’s earlier works. The general idea behind his argument is that everything that is in motion must be put into motion, but there has to be a “first Mover” who cannot be moved who he believes is God. But after closer examination, the validity of his argument comes into question.

Paley relates natural objects to watches and all the aspects that goes into making watches. Paley explains the complex design of a watch and makes us believe that there is a designer, but then states that since we have never seen anyone make a watch, and that there are malfunctions in watches and natural objects, we can conclude that there must not be a designer of natural objects. Paley relates natural objects to watches and makes the same statement that no one makes these natural object because we do not see them being made. There is no designer. Human beings do not create natural objects and we do not know where they come from.