Zusammenfassung der Ressource
AS Design qua Purpose
- William Paley
(18th Century)
- Paley was a philosopher who believed
that the parts of the universe were so
intricately fitted together that there must
be a designer. He believed that the
universe had a purpose (eg. to sustain
life), and that this purpose showed that
God existed, and he was a designer - as
it says in classical theism.
- Analogies
- A Watch
- Parts of a watch all seem to fit intricately together, and
work meticulously. If somebody came across a watch
they would assume that it had a watchmaker to produce
it. It was created to serve the purpose of telling time.
This is like the universe and God, according to Paley.
- A
Television
- It shows evidence of
purpose, complexity and
design because the parts
are fitted together in such a
way to receive pictures and
sound. The parts were put
together like this to fulfill this
function.
- Examples
- The
Universe
- Some parts of the
universe appear to fit
together perfectly to
achieve a specific
function, like it was
designed. Paley
thought that to
achieve this, it must
have been designed
for a specific purpose,
not randomly. It must
have been designed
by God.
- The
Human Eye
- Various parts of the
eye cooperate in a
complex way together,
to produce sight. The
eye was clearly
designed for a specific
purpose, to allow sight,
which shows that there
is an element of design
for a purpose.
- The
Lacteal
System
- The number of
teats/paps in each
species is found to
bear a proportion to
the number of the
young.
- The
Ozone
Layer
- Arthur Brown (20th Century)
stated that the ozone layer had
a purpose of filtering UV rays,
and said that that could not
have come about by chance. It
was designed for a purpose, to
protect.
- Problems: However,
the ozone layer is not
in perfect condition.
Some ask how a
perfect, divine deity
produce something
that would malfunction.