Edexcel AS/A Level Religious Studies Philosophy - Unit 1 Philosophical Issues and Questions
Contains: Design, Ontological and Cosmological Arguments for the Existence of God
THE DESIGN ARGUMENT
The design argument is a teleological argument that argues that DESIGN ARGUMENT Tennan
the universe is ordered towards some end or purpose and was The
created by an intelligent being to accomplish that purpose. HUME ON DESIGN ARGUMENT in th
It is an inductive argument because it argues that our experience Before Paley put forward his design argument, Hume had put mus
of order and regularity in the universe is evidence for a universe forward some key criticisms of design arguments that can be applied
that has been designed and offers the probable conclusion that to Paley’s argument:
The
there must be a design – God. Our experience of the universe is limited – humans do not natu
It is also an a posteriori argument because it relies on our sense- have sufficient knowledge of the origins of the world to assume
experience of the universe. that there is only one designer.
Analogies do not always work – there are not enough strong The
PALEY’S DESIGN ARGUMENT similarities between the watch and the universe to infer that they com
Paley put forward two kinds of design argument: have a similar cause. The universe is more like a living thing, des
The Argument from Purpose something that grows of its own accord rather than something Dar
If a watch was found on a heath, it would require further made by hand.
spe
explanation as it is inferred that the watch has been put We cannot know anything about the cause from the effect
together to fulfil a purpose. – Paley assumes that the God who designed the universe is a
This
The watch contains evidence of design, therefore it has a Christian God. But there could be more than one God, or the ada
designer. being that designed the watch might not be the same being that orga
The features that was observable in the watch were also created the universe. cha
observable in nature; everything seems to have been sele
designed to fulfil some function and the way the natural world ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE Pale
fulfils these functions seems ordered and regular. The arguments that reason and purpose of the universe is
Just as it is unreasonable to assume that the watch came
env
to support human life. There are two forms of anthropic they
about without a watchmaker, so it is unreasonable to suggest principle:
that the universe came about without a designer – God. und
The Argument from Regularity
Weak Anthropic Principle – because we are here, the bird
A watch works by having regular mechanical movements universe must have the properties necessary for life; if it dem
where regularity in the watch can be compared to regularity didn’t, we wouldn’t be here. This
in the universe e.gg. the movements of planets. Strong Anthropic Principle – it was necessary for the spe
Regularity in the mechanism of the watch points to a watch- universe to have the properties it did, and the fine tunings
maker responsible for that regularity.
inte
in its creation. The universe was intelligently constructed Mor
Regularity in the universe leads us to infer the existence of a
and could not have come into being in any other way. nee
designer of that regularity.
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