1.1 Design Argument Flashcards
inductive argument
- A process of reasoning from particular instances to general conclusions
- DA says our experience of order and regularity in the universe is evidence for a universe that has been designed and offers the probable conclusion that there must be a designer - God.
posteriori argument
- based on sense experience, the evidence of our senses
- we perceive the order, beauty and complexity of the universe using our senses and argues that this evidence of design implies the existence of a designer - God
William Paley
liberal theologian famous for watchmaker analogy in ‘Natural Theology’
Paleys two kinds of design argument
one from purpose the other from regularity
The argument from purpose
If we found a stone on a heath we would assume it had always been there but if we were to find a watch we would not assume it had always been there and it would therefore require further explanation.
We would infer that the watch had been put together to fulfil a purpose - if it had been put together any other way it would not fulfil its purpose. The watch contains evidence of design and must have a designer.
Paley made an analogy between the watch and the natural world. The features observable in the watch are also observable in nature: designed to fulfil a function and in the natural world these functions seem ordered and regular e.g. eye for vision, birds wings
Paley argued it is unreasonable to assume the watch came without matchmaker in the same way it is unreasonable to suggest the universe came without a designer - God.
analogy
a comparison between two things or ideas with similar features, usually used to explain the less familiar idea, are the comparisons based on genuine similarities?
design argument intro
The design argument is based on experience of the order of the universe. For this reason it is sometimes called the teleological argument (from ‘telos’ the Greek word meaning order or purpose). The argument is that the universe is so ordered because it was created by an intelligent being to accomplish that purpose than that it is this way by chance.
The argument from regularity
A watch works by having regular mechanical movements. Regularity in the watch can be compared to regularity in the universe, for example the movements of the planets. Regularity in the mechanism of the watch points to a watchmaker responsible for that regularity. Similarly, regularity in the universe leads us to infer the existence of a designer of that regularity.
Hume on design
- Our experience of the universe is limited. We have no experience of universes being designed or built, so we cannot infer the cause.
- Analogies do not always work very well. The universe is an organic entity; a watch is a machine.
- We cannot know anything about the cause from the effect. Paley makes assumptions that there was a designer (God) and that it was a Christian God.
- Even if there is a designer we cannot infer that he or she is infinite or supremely intelligent. We cannot conclude this being is the perfect God Paley argues for…
A modern design argument: Swinburne and probability
- Drawing on Ockham’s razor, Swinburne argues from probability: when joined with cumulative evidence of other proofs for God’s existence - the cosmo, onto and moral arguments - the design argument raises the probability of God’s existence.
- We can accept Darwinism but still ask ‘What makes natural selection occur?’ It could be that the universe was organised and designed so that life would evolve by natural selection.
Regularities of co-presence
Swinburne accepts the evidence that evolution has led to our complex world, but argues that evolution requires particular natural laws in order for it to take place.
Nature acts as a human-making machine as it produces us; we, in turn, learn from nature and produce machines that also make machines (think of robots working in manufacturing). Swinburne infers from this that, in the same way there is a creator of machines (human beings), there is a creator of nature, namely God.
Regularities of succession
Swinburne argues on the basis of temporal order (the way in which the laws of nature are so absolute that one thing always succeeds another in a predictable order. The temporal order of the world is overwhelmingly obvious to us e.g. if we mix hydrogen with oxygen H2O will always follow.
Overall, Swinburne argues that the probability that God exists is greater than the probability that he doesn’t.
Human intelligence, consciousness and questioning are best explained by a God that created human beings with free will through a long evolutionary process.
The anthropic principle
F.R. Tennant argued that the universe is fine-tuned for human life.
This idea is referred to as the ‘goldilocks principle’. Goldilocks found Daddy Bear’s porridge too hot, Mummy’s too cold and baby bears just right. The conditions for the creation of the universe and life were not too hot or too cold, but just right.
The weak anthropic principle
Because we are here, the universe must have the properties necessary for life: if it didn’t, we wouldn’t be here. However, it does not explain why the universe is as it is.
The strong anthropic principle
States that it was necessary for the universe to have the properties it did, and the fine tunings in its creation, and that these did not just happen but were necessary. The universe was intelligently constructed, and could not have come into being in any other way.
