Essay Structure
For the statement to be evaluated:
William Paley’s Watchmaker Argument
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Fifth Way
The Anthropic Principle (including Richard Swinburne’s Anthropic Coincidences)
Graham Priests Version
Against the statement to be evaluated:
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution David Hume’s Criticisms
Richard Dawkins
Introduction
For my E.P.Q, I decided to base it on a question which has enamored the world for the entirety of its existence. “Does God exist?”. I will be specifically looking into the Design argument, which is an empirical argument which tries to prove the existence of God. Most of the argument consists of picking out various features of the world (mainly complex, unique things) and showing that this …show more content…
William Paley said; If you found a watch on a deserted island where no –one had ever lived you would know that someone would have created it. This is because it is far too complex and unique to be created by chance, or by the waves/ wind molding the watch into a working object. William Paley then related this to the Universe and said it can’t have just been created by chance; it is way too complex and unique for this to occur. William Paley said that we are actually even more complicated than watches. He then gave the example of the human eye; the eye can adjust to 10 billion fold changes in brightness, and the eye is made up of more than 2 million working parts. Paley then said “Is it possible to believe that the eye was formed without any regard to vision; that it was the animal itself which found out that, although formed with no such intention, it would serve to see …show more content…
He is regarded as one of the best Christian Philosophers that has ever lived. He created 5 ways in which try to prove the existence of God; his fifth way is a Design Argument. Aquinas said that; All natural bodies, for example a tree etc. all manage/ are able to reach their end goal/ purpose. This is known as their ‘todos’. He argued that whatever couldn’t think for themselves, (in this case \a tree) must have an intelligent designer, or being controlling it and pointing it in the right direction, he then went on to say that this is God. Another example he uses is an archer firing an arrow, the arrow can’t move to the target (its purpose/todos) itself without being directed, aimed and fired by the archer. In this case the archer is God and he is directing all different beings to their final goal/ purpose. This argument is a posteriori argument, and it says that the universe is complex and unique; this complexity shows that the universe must have a designer. This is also an Ockham’s razor, this means that it provides the simplest explanation for something that’s happening, it is the most likely explanation for
For the statement to be evaluated:
William Paley’s Watchmaker Argument
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Fifth Way
The Anthropic Principle (including Richard Swinburne’s Anthropic Coincidences)
Graham Priests Version
Against the statement to be evaluated:
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution David Hume’s Criticisms
Richard Dawkins
Introduction
For my E.P.Q, I decided to base it on a question which has enamored the world for the entirety of its existence. “Does God exist?”. I will be specifically looking into the Design argument, which is an empirical argument which tries to prove the existence of God. Most of the argument consists of picking out various features of the world (mainly complex, unique things) and showing that this …show more content…
William Paley said; If you found a watch on a deserted island where no –one had ever lived you would know that someone would have created it. This is because it is far too complex and unique to be created by chance, or by the waves/ wind molding the watch into a working object. William Paley then related this to the Universe and said it can’t have just been created by chance; it is way too complex and unique for this to occur. William Paley said that we are actually even more complicated than watches. He then gave the example of the human eye; the eye can adjust to 10 billion fold changes in brightness, and the eye is made up of more than 2 million working parts. Paley then said “Is it possible to believe that the eye was formed without any regard to vision; that it was the animal itself which found out that, although formed with no such intention, it would serve to see …show more content…
He is regarded as one of the best Christian Philosophers that has ever lived. He created 5 ways in which try to prove the existence of God; his fifth way is a Design Argument. Aquinas said that; All natural bodies, for example a tree etc. all manage/ are able to reach their end goal/ purpose. This is known as their ‘todos’. He argued that whatever couldn’t think for themselves, (in this case \a tree) must have an intelligent designer, or being controlling it and pointing it in the right direction, he then went on to say that this is God. Another example he uses is an archer firing an arrow, the arrow can’t move to the target (its purpose/todos) itself without being directed, aimed and fired by the archer. In this case the archer is God and he is directing all different beings to their final goal/ purpose. This argument is a posteriori argument, and it says that the universe is complex and unique; this complexity shows that the universe must have a designer. This is also an Ockham’s razor, this means that it provides the simplest explanation for something that’s happening, it is the most likely explanation for