William Paley set out to create a logical argument called “The Watchmaker Argument” which proves the existence of a creator, and therefore, the existence of God. In “Natural Theology”, Paley argues that due to the complex nature of the universe, the universe must have had a creator. Paley’s argument would seem to make sense, however, when put under modern day scrutiny, does not hold up to the degree that it was originally intended to. Throughout this essay, I will argue that Paley’s Watchmaker is not a logical argument by pointing out the major flaws contained in it, and how they coexist to debunk the argument. Firstly, the argument is not logically sound, being full of bias and fallacies.…
The Teleological Argument for the Existence of God, also known as “Arguments from Design”, states that a designer must exist because the universe and living things exhibit marks of design in their order, consistency, unity, and pattern, and that designer is God. One of the analogies used for this argument is William Paley’s Watch Maker Argument. He gives the scenario: if you were to find a watch in an open field you would automatically assume that it was designed and did not just randomly form out of thin air. Based off this argument, if you agree that the universe and its inhabitants are designed in some way for a purpose, then there must be a designer responsible, which would be God. Believers in the Teleological Argument also argue that scientists and evolutionists are unable to explain how complex organisms such as the eye originated.…
William Paley was a senior Christian religious leader of Carlisle, who lead Christian theology defending Christianity. Paley’s position is from the design argument, called teleological arguments which are arguments from the order in the universe to the existence of God. William Paley points out the resemblances of the universe to a watch, with many ordered parts working in harmony to further some purpose. “Paley argues that just as we infer the existence of an intelligent designer to explain the presence of a subtle and complex artifact like a watch, so too we must infer the existence of an intelligent Grand Designer to explain the existence of the works of nature, which are far more subtle, complex, and cleverly contrived than any human artifact.” (Paley, 181)…
William Paley (1743 – 1805) was a professor of philosophy at Cambridge University who is most notably known for his watchmaker argument that seeks to prove a theistic view of god. By relating a watch to the natural world he uses argument by analogy in order to prove the design argument, or the teleological argument, which concludes that god’s existence can be proven by the order, complexity, and apparent purposefulness, within the natural world. [Insert thesis] Paley’s watchmaker argument states that if he walked upon a stone on the ground and was asked how it came to be there, he would answer for all that he knew it had been there forever. But supposing he found a watch on the ground and it was inquired how the watch ended up in…
This however was not a result of manipulation by a divine being, but instead was caused by the laws of nature, circumstance, and competition. These complex species originated from simple organisms who through the process of evolution (specifically Natural Selection), slowly adapted genetically to occupy a variety of ecological niches. Paley’s design argument argues for the necessity of a creator to explain the world’s complexity. This is refuted by Natural Selection, since Natural Selection provides an observable explanation for the Earth’s complexity without appealing to divine creation. Argument for Proposition B: Inner conviction for religion is observable in all world religions.…
The Teleological argument goes as far back as Socrates and there has been many versions of the argument presented ever since. The Teleological argument, also known as the argument from design, is an argument for the existence of God. William Paley, a theistic 17th century philosopher, is one of the most influential proponents of the Teleological argument. In his book Natural Theology, one of his Teleological arguments is by way of an analogy.…
The Teleological Argument The existence of God can be supported by the design argument or teleological arguments that conclude: since nature looks like it was designed, then nature was or has a designer which we call God. Not only is nature designed but things humans have created are designed also. In order to have something in existence, it must have a creator which must have designed that something. A number of arguments utilize design arguments in favor of the existence of God.…
When it comes to the position of the existence of God, several arguments are debated. The cosmological argument, according to the text, holds the position that the universe exists and that something outside of the universe is required to explain its existence; that something being God (Pojman, 57). William Paley presented an inductive, teleological argument in which he believes that we complex beings didn’t occur naturally, thus, the universe must have an intelligent designer (class notes). An opposing position, argued by Hume (Cleanthes), presented several arguments to discredit Paley’s position on the existence of God. Though both men held unique points of views from their arguments, I believe that Hume did a better job at discrediting Paley’s teleological argument and showing exactly where it failed.…
Among several criticisms to the argument, Hume argues that the existence of an intelligent designer needs explaining in and of itself (Speaks, 2006). This argument highlights a flaw in the theory of teleological arguments in that it creates an infinite loop of possibilities. How did God come to be, does he have an intelligent designer? One can follow that logic to infinity. Another criticism Hume outlines is the simple lack of evidence to support the theory.…
Although both arguments establish valid justifications of God’s existence, an exact answer is still unknown. William Paley was a Christian philosopher from the late 1700’s best known for his teleological argument for the existence of God, which is also known as the design argument, which argues the existence of God by seeking evidence through design in creation. The main idea of Paley’s argument asserts that the universe is too intricate and highly ordered to have been created by accident or incidental change, therefore, providing proof of God’s existence. The word teleology is derived from the Greek root word telos, which means “purpose” or “goal” furthermore, Paley believed that every design had a valuable purpose and every designed thing implies a designer. For example, Paley uses a watch to represent a telos due to its functional complexity that accurately differentiates articles created by…
In the Natural Theology, William Paley uses an example of a self-replicating watch to argue for the existence of a universal creator. He believes that the universe, like the watch, has an innate, intricate design and as such, a designer. Paley argues that if the watch were capable of creating identical copies of itself his argument would not weaken, but actually be supported. For Paley this is because the watch itself is not responsible for its design or purpose, and merely passes these aspects to the successive identical watches. However this concept hinges on the watch not being its own designer, and the designer being responsible for its current and consistent appearance.…
Cosmological argument The cosmological argument is a well known argument that attempts to prove the existence of God. The most common leader of the argument is Thomas Aquinas who devised Five Ways to prove the existence of God, which he referred to as “demonstration.” It comes to the conclusion that God exists from posteriori because it focuses on cause and effect to come to an assumption that God exists, which contrasts with the priori approach to the ontological argument. Linear religions generally accept that God made the universe ex nihilo because in Genesis God existed at the beginning of time; therefore, He must be the cause of the universe because you can’t have an effect without a cause.…
Cleanthes' argument from design for God's existence is not convincing. He compares two different ideas and thus, wrongly generalizes. He also commits a fallacy, and doesn’t meet the criteria necessary for the type of argument he offers. Although, a few potential strong points are present in his beliefs, like the improbability of chance, and the incomprehensible evidence of God, they are still not strong enough for His justification. Cleanthes through an a posteriori, inductive argument claims that since the presence of small machines (i.e. houses) implies human design, the presence of an even bigger machine (i.e. the universe) implies a human-like intelligence behind it as well as "the adapting of means to ends in natural and human machines…
Before I explain that, I am going to tell you what is cosmological argument. The cosmological Argument (Greek "cosmos"= orderly whole): a posterior, deductive. "god" is the "first (uncaused) cause "of the cosmos. it is deductive, so it is a candidate for soundness. Then the cosmological argument is the argument that the existence of the world or universe is strong evidence for the existence of a God who created it.…
Paley also used the idea of an eye and how it’s been designed especially for the purpose of sight. Paley believes the design of an eye suggests an intelligent designer. This is a strength because something as complex as an eye must have had a designer because it couldn’t possibly have come into existence on its own. Such evidence could only be the result of a ‘designing creator’ which for Paley is God. Richard Swinburne backs up Paley with integrated complexity and Swinburne states that the complexity in the universe makes it more probable there is design and therefore a designer – God.…