How Succesful Is William Paleys Design Argument?
Uploaded by coneyislandfun on Feb 25, 2007
William Paley argued for the existence of God by reasoning that the world shows such complex structure that it must have been designed. He used analogy to compare the universe to a man made structure such as a watch. He argues that if we were to find a watch on the ground, we would naturally infer that it had not come into being by chance; rather that it had been designed for a purpose. He also argues that regularity in the universe also shows that the world must have been designed – Newton’s laws of motion and gravity alone show there is design in the universe that did not come about by chance.
Paley’s argument has both its strengths and its weaknesses. The argument itself is a posteriori and inductive meaning that everyone can understand and relate to it and it is easy to understand. It appears to be a logical argument – most people would agree that if they were to come across a watch they would assume it had a designer. It is therefore easy to follow the argument and agree with its conclusion – that there is a God. By using the analogy of a watch, we can see more clearly the point that is being made; that as like effects have like causes, it is reasonable to assume that an intricately designed object such as a watch has a designer, and it is therefore reasonable to assume that our intricately designed universe has a designer.
However the fact that the argument uses analogy can also be seen as a weakness. David Hume criticised Paley’s argument because he believed it was illogical to liken the universe to a vast man made machine. He believed the universe would be more believably likened to a vegetable or inert animal – something growing of its own accord rather than something made by hand. Hume believed that analogies were a poor way of arguing for the existence of God because they leave so much room for argument – for example, the watch that we assume has a designer could have in fact been designed by ten different people, and therefore we can say the same about the universe.
I find that using the analogy of a watch makes little sense to me when it comes to proving the existence of God. I do agree that were I to come across a watch I would...