The Design Argument

3.The Argument From Beauty-arguments from the concept of beauty to infer that there must be a creator God of such a concept

.The Teleological Arguments

Paley-'Analogy of the Watch'

This analogy is used by Paley to demonstrate the argument from design that the design in the universe implies a necessary designer:

A man comes across a watch, something far too complex to have come about by chance and has a clear purpose. The man concludes that the watch must have been made by a watchmaker who must be intelligent to create such a complex system. In the same way the watch demands an intelligent watchmaker so the universe demands an intelligent designer = God!

Paley's argument also goes further to support itself:

-you don't have to have seen a watch before to know that it couldn't have come about by chance as it is complex. In the same way you don't need to have seen the universe to understand that it is too complex to have come about by chance

-you don't have to understand what all of its parts are for and you don't need to know its purpose. This same principle applies to the universe as we don't need to know what the purpose of the universe is or what all the various parts are for to infer a creator God from the simple fact that it isn't possible for such an elaborate degree of design to have come about by chance.

Bible-'Literal Interpretations'

A Christian might say:

-'The principle of natural selection is absolutely incompatible with the one word of God'

Aquinas

Aquinas had several points to add to the Teleological Argument:

-Non-intelligent things can't produce the order we witness in nature so there must be an intelligent designer behind this order this we call God

David Hume-'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion'

Hume had three versions of the Teleological Argument contained within his dialogues. In each case he states and then refutes each argument invalidating the various forms of the Teleological argument:

Hume's Arguments Hume's Criticisms

-All design necessarily implies a designer

Great design implies a great designer

There is clearly great design in the world/machine

Therefore there must be a great designer in the world = God

2-The world is ordered a result of either chance or design

It is entirely plausible that the world arose by chance