The Design Argument

There are 4 arguments in the Design argument. 1. The argument from analogy (For and Against) 2. The argument from cause and effect (Against) 3. Function and purpose (Against) 4. the anthropic principle (For)

Because of the complex deign of the universe, for example Only God could have design it that way for a purpose. Teleological It is an empirical argument because....

The argument from analogy Paley (1805) The natural world is like a watch: This is analogy (similarity argument) COMPLEX Different functions, it is HARMMOIOUS Regulated by the hours: PLANNED Finely tuned- INTELLIGE NT Has a PURPOSE The world is so intricate like a watch that it must have been designed by a specialist (God), the divine watch maker.

Paley quote Even if the watch went wrong it original design and purpose could not be denied as having been created teleologically.

Modern example of how everything works in harmony and id Designed by a higher being The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA and to identify and map the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome scientific researchDNAgenes human genome The "genome" of any given individual (except for identical twins and cloned organisms) is unique; mapping "the human genome" involves sequencing multiple variations of each geneidentical twinscloned

What would Dawkins have said about the discoveries of the Genome project? Dawkins would have said...

Criticisms of the design argument from watch analogy There is nothing similar between a machine (watch) and a natural object. Natural ObjectMachine No evidence of prior planningClear plans for construction Spontaneous unthinking growthInvolves reasoned argument May not have a purpose e.g. donkey Has a clear purpose- you can explain what it is for

Paley said that a watch holds similarities to the designed world Human eye TigerBombThunder Parts are COMPLEX Each part has a FUNCTIO N Operation HARMONI OUS INTELLIGE NT design PURPOSE

We can conclude that: Not all natural objects meet Paley’s criteria of design. Some are not complex or harmonious or have a purpose Examples: Planets that cannot sustain life have no purpose Male nipples have no purpose Blind people’s eyes are not harmonious. Therefore they are not necessarily designed by God However, one could argue that these 3 things....

If God is omnipotent why design imperfect things

If God designed the world, who designed God? There must have been an uber- designer and an uber-uberdesigner. The infinite regress

The analogy argument of design encourages us to anthropomorphise God. (give a non-human human characteristics) He is intelligent, has ideas and a purpose in his designs. However, God lives outside time (omniscient) but design suggests he did this at different times in different places. Hume thinks this is the main flaw of the analogy argument

15 marks (a) Describe one feature of the World that appears to show design. Explain one reason for doubting this feature does show design. (focus on how evolution has created dramatic and amazing changes that are not designed)