Outline the key ideas of the design argument.

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Katherine Brittin

‘Outline the key ideas of the design argument.’

The design argument is an argument which outlines the key features proving the existence of God. This is also known as the ‘Teleological argument’ or Telos meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’ in Greek. It is a posteriori argument, where it is based on the observation of the apparent order in the universe and the natural world, which supports that we are not just here by chance but out of design.  It starts with finding meaning and purpose in parts of the world and later moving on to the universe as a whole, looking at the progress of the world and its part towards an ultimate goal. There are two main arguments within the design argument; the first is an analogical argument where an analogy is made between the world or its parts and objects to human design. The second is the inductive argument, which is based on the observation that the universe shows regular motion both in its parts and in the whole, a system that abides by laws or rules. The five key features of the design argument are order, benefit, purpose, suitability for human life and appearance.

Paley came to the conclusion that we are put on to this earth for a purpose and that we are not just here by chance. Paley uses the analogy of a watch to explain his argument; if we were to come across a watch we would assume that it had a creator, this is mainly due to the fact it has such an intricate design, like a machine, so it must have been designed with a purpose in mind, proving it can’t have been made by pure chance. If it was designed any other way it may not have worked. ‘When we came to inspect the watch, we perceive that its several parts are framed and put together for a purpose’. This is an analogy for the world as the watch is like the universe, it is full of small parts that work perfectly together, if one part wasn’t there or in a different place it would not function correctly, like the universe. It had a creator; the watch had a watch maker, so therefore the universe must have an all powerful creator as the universe is so perfectly created and it can’t have got here by chance. Paley uses the principle of like causes to like effects, what is true of human design is also true of the world. God is far greater with his design power than any human. Paley also used the instincts of animals as an example to strengthen his argument. They use their instincts for survival, like a bird uses its wings for flight and a fish uses its fins to swim. This evidence, as Paley argued, can only be the result of ‘designing creator’ which was God.

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Aquinas argues that the general order and purpose of the universe is proof of a designer behind it. The apparent purposeful behaviour of inanimate and non-rational things in the universe can only be explained by God. For  example, every  year   groups of grey  whales migrate  from their  sub-arctic feeding  grounds off the  Alaskan  coast  to  their  Mexican  breeding  grounds. This is a journey of 20, 000 kilometres which takes up to three months. These behaviour patterns rarely change, and their end result is beneficial to the whales, so there is purpose in them. The whales are non-rational creatures but ...

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