Analogy

William Paley claimed that the universe itself is extraordinarily complex in its structure, as well as how it functions. Paley expresses his point by using an analogy involving a rock and watch. He states that we would not question the purpose for the stone being on the ground or anything further. However, if we found a watch laying on the ground, it would require an explanation as to why it was there. It may seem like common sense for us not to question the rock just because we know that a rock…

Question 4: The Importance of Analogy Analogy is a key aspect of archaeology because it is an important method to gaining a wide range of information about the past that is not always present in the archaeological or written record and it informs us on the nature of the archaeological record (Johnson 2010:50). Archaeologists use analogy for even the most basic of interpretation such as the identification of types of artifacts. For example, how do we know an arrowhead is an arrowhead? Or a bowl…

As request by Prof. Stephen I will talk a little bit about health in Brazil and the “cliff analogy”. I don’t want to bother you too much, so I will try to do it in a nutshell, but eventually I will need to go back to our colonial history and race miscegenation for a better understanding. Brazil had some particularities among the European colonies, in 1808, as Napoleon invaded Portugal, the King John VI run away along the Portuguese Court to Brazil from where the Royal family reigned Portugal…

The Discussion and the Conclusion: In Meditation II, Descartes introduces the “Wax Analogy” in order to demonstrate conclusively that things are known through the intellect rather than the senses and that the mind is better known than the body. Specifically, the argument is concerned with how we know rather than what we know. The argument concentrates on transformation— that is, a piece of wax melting into liquid wax. Descartes states that our senses allow us to know about a piece of wax:…

1010: Introduction to Philosophy February 17, 2015 Argument from Design The Watchmaker analogy is a Teleological Argument for the existence of God. A teleological argument is known as an argument from design, and claims that there is an order to nature that is defended by the presence of some kind of intelligent designer. A common argument occurs in The Watch and the Watchmaker by William Paley. His analogy in my opinion is insignificant and focused off of an assumption through observation…

Essay on Plato's Analogy of the Cave Plato's Republic was written as a biting political critique, a revolutionary piece about the state of society and how it must be improved. However, Plato also delves into philosophy in the Republic and while the Analogy of the Cave is an extremely politically charged statement, it reveals much about Plato's ideas about epistemology and philosophy. Plato starts in his usual dialogue style of writing, by imploring Glaucon (Plato's brother) to imagine men in…

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…

life? Soccer has many analogies to compare and contrast everyday situations. Soccer is an interesting sport that can relate to many things. Soccer has many great examples of analogies like the coach in soccer represents your boss at work. The first few prominent analogies that were found are your teammates are like your family, practice is like preparing you for something like a test, and lastly the plays are your plans for the day. All of these are examples of analogies that can apply to…

ability of the watch to keep time depends on numerous factors such as being the precise shape and the arrangement of these parts suggests that the watch was designed by some intelligent designer who designed precisely to perform these tasks. Using the analogy of a watch, Paley argues that the creation of the world happened just like a watch would. Since it can be concluded that the world posses much complexity in relation to its function and all the parts that go into its design, there must be…

One big writer on the subject of intelligent design is William Paley. In his writings from the Natural Theology, he writes about this idea of a watchmaker and that design implies a designer (Paley 212). He uses the analogy of a watch to show that in order for a watch to work it needs to have a watchmaker or designer. He compares this to the idea of natural theology and how species are created through design and the lense of a designer. He writes, “by inspecting the…