Abstract: Paley's "watch argument" is sketched together with initial suggested objections to his reasoning. The universe is vastly more complex and gigantic than a watch. Learn. 10. Statement of the Argument In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there, I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the Here he states, “The watch maker argument doesn’t support theism. That is the essence of the argument of Michael Ruse to Ben Stein in “Expelled no Intelligence Allowed” – that life may have developed into the needed complexity on the back of crystals (1 minute video).  What Ruse and many others skeptics miss, is that the identification of design is contingent not only on just complexity, put as Dembski put it “specified complexity” [emphasis mine] or as Paley put it “purposeful design”. If we came across this watch even if we didn’t He further claims “We know for a fact that nature can, does and has produced remarkably complex organisms without a conscious and intelligent behind them.”(4:14) We know no such thing. What are the similarities between Paley’s watch argument and Thomas’s fifth way? The universe resembles, is like the watch. First, to think of God in those terms is to fall to the error of, The Universe/Creation was created out of nothing, William Paley’s Intelligent Contrivance, Kestrels and Cerevisiae, Mt Improbable and other impossible evolutionary dreams, Everyone should have one (The Watchmaker Analogy), https://phylogenous.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/william-paleys-intelligent-contrivance/, Distant Starlight Unlikely Solutions Part 1: Light In Transit, 15 Reasons:Why Evolution has never happened-Part 3, 15 Reasons:Why Evolution has never happened-Part 2, 15 Reasons: Why Evolution has never happened – Part 1, Knowledge of the Holy One Part 5: The Trinity, Knowledge of the Holy One Part 4: The Holy Spirit, Knowledge of the Holy One Part 3: God the Father, Knowledge of the Holy One Part 2: Jesus – The Holy One Denied, Knowledge of the Holy One Part 1: Jesus – the Holy One Revealed, Questions for Question Evolution Day 2020. “Darwin assumed that the increase of information comes from natural selection. His argument played a prominent role in natural theology. And we know this from all the genetic operations studies that we have.”[7] video. The Argument fails because the analogy fails. Winner success concept © Mbolina | Dreamstime.com  used by permission. 2.) his assertion that Paley confuses correlation with causation, also another false assertion that is unfounded. We know evolutionists know no such thing because they can’t even figure out where the abundance of species and body types originate that are found in the Cambrian Explosion. The Watchmaker Argument: Fredrik Bendz summarizes a number of objections to Paley's argument—most relating to the fallacy of false analogy. 7. Thanks, and yes you’re correct on both accounts – like the Pharisees who refused to see the miracle of the healing of the blind man (John 9), skeptics who don’t want to see evidence of God simply won’t. Spell. Ignores Natural Selection (Mistake @ 3:52) Paley bases his argument on something he knows for a fact: a watch needs a designer. Thes… Because it is so clear, so easy to understand, so obvious, that it is a powerful argument for the existence of God. Back, 5.  On Paley’s use of purposeful design: He concludes that because the universe is complex, its designer must be complex – the way a watch or the universe is complex. Because every atheist I speak to says there’s, So why does he think God is complex? So clearly he doesn’t know God is complex by examination. “Every indicator of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature; with the difference, on the side of nature, of being greater and more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation. The use of a watch is just to help the reader understand why we can indentify that the watch is designed.  The universe is also clearly designed. which is created – which means the creator must be “beyond” space or omnipresent, Information Back, 3.  Dembski, Intelligent Design, p 128 – so the creator must be omnipotent. The best option is that the watch is product of intelligent design. It is a Greek word meaning “end” for telos and a “logos” which means the study of, and in this case, it refers to science. Hume does not Most naturalists take for granted that Hume soundly defeated Paley's argument. c. Paley’s Watchmaker Argument. We cannot figure out everything about the watch / universe, so we can’t infer it’s designed, 4. [emphasis his] Contingency ensures that the object in question is not the result of an automatic and therefore unintelligent process…”[3] More on that later. Or second, the attempted rebuttals fail because of the use of other logical fallacies. The above are not the words Paley use. Created by. What conclusion would you draw if you found a watch on the road out in the heath (countryside)? Let’s look a bit more closely at premise (2) in the above argument for the conclusion that the watch had an intelligent designer. Bryana_Polk2. The point of the argument is to prove God exists – which it does.  Besides, the reason God sent Jesus was to reveal God. In this section he also invokes a Circular Reasoning argument, claiming we have “millions of examples of nature creating complex life.” That’s his (false) conclusion.  We have no evidence of that, only evolutionary fairytales that  evolutionists tell us. Second this objection assumes that in the group of complex things,  God is like the other complex things. He then goes on to “formally” attempt to debunk the argument. Basically, this argument says that after seeing a watch, with all its intricate parts, which work together in a precise fashion to keep time, one must deduce that this piece of machinery has a creator, since it is far too complex to have simply come into being by some other means, such as evolution. William Dembski’s “specified complexity” is a teleological argument. So what he shows here is he’s not trying to refute Paley’s argument. ( Log Out /  Paley’s teleological argument for the existence of God makes an analogy between a watch and the universe. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Though often confused with the argument from simple analogy, the watchmaker argument from William Paley is a more sophisticated design argument that attempts to avoid Hume’s objection to the analogy between worlds and artifacts. Once again he’s just showing his anti-Christian bias as he puts up another straw man argument directed at Christianity, not Paley’s argument. ( Log Out /  STUDY. The analogy between telescope and eye, between watch … The philosopher compares the creator to a watchmaker and states that the presence of design proves the existence of a designer, although some of his ideas and statements fail to pass a logical approach. Which is true – complexity in and off itself does not require a designer. Watch / universe is not product of impersonal principle of order, 6. One of his concluding statements is rather revealing: “Though the watch maker argument is thoroughly flawed it is nevertheless what I personally consider to be one of the best arguments for a deity that has ever been.”. Just as a watch, with its inteligent design and complex function must have been created by an intelligent maker: a watchmaker, the universe, with all its complexity and greatness, must have been created by an intelligent and powerful creator. ( Log Out /  Telos means end (as in “endzone” in football) or purpose or goal. Paley’s argument has both its strengths and its weaknesses. This is critical to understand because this error is the foundation of many other errors in the video. How many universes are there? Test. Published in 1802, it purports to give “evidences of the existence and attributes of … (Another thing it can’t do. There must be an apparent reason for the complexity and a goal or purpose for the complexity.  There is clearly an apparent reason behind the complexity in a watch: its many “contrivances” allow it to keep time according to the specification of hours, minutes and seconds.  Not so with crystals.  They exhibit merely a complex ordering of matter, with no apparent goal or purpose. Paley’s argument can be seen to be fairly weak due to a watch being man made where as a stone is something that was created in the christian God’s 7 days of creation. 8. The argument does not “give the universe two incompatible and contradicting qualities” it simply observes what is, then goes on to state how we know the difference between how the simple, and how the complicated come to exist. Thanks for another powerful refutation of evolutionist obfuscation. from Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed, Documentary by Ben Stein, 2008 which is created – which means the creator must be other than material or immaterial, Space Special Pleading / Self Refuting (Mistake @ 5:00) It does this by asserting complexity and order can only be caused by a designer” Change ). Key Point Based on the way the world is, God logically exists. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Thus examining the evidence as Paley did, one must conclude that God is eternal, and thus uncreated, and thus without beginning or end, and thus uncaused and un-designed. The various pieces and parts were fashioned to achieve a particular end or goal, and thus they have an intelligent goal maker. Furthermore, Paley’s argument is rooted in similarities that he observes between a crafted machine and the natural world. Skeptics routinely give these two objections to the Paley’s argument: Objection 1. Paley also addressed a number of possible counterarguments: Objection: We don’t know who the watchmaker is. For the sake of meaningful contrast, Paley emphasizes three distinguishing properties lacked by the former and possessed by the latter. ... Paley’s Watchmaker and Design Argument. What are his straw man objections? But natural selection reduces genetic information. And that is precisely what one must do to prevent the watchmaker argument from being completely self refuting.”. Here’s one that deals with a topic we’ve been discussing – specified complexity – and why Neo-Darwinism – and Dawkins’ “Mt. It appears to be a logical argument – most people would agree that if they were to come across a watch they would assume it had a designer. In the An Intelligent agent to conceive of, and execute the entirety of the plan.  These components can be identified in the first three iterations of the teleological argument above, and I submit they are also implicit in Paley’s argument which include “purposeful design” and “contrivances.”  Indeed any object that requires forethought and planning to be produced is by definition an object that can only be produced by Intelligent Design. If he came across a mechanical watch on the ground, he would assume that its many complex parts fitted together for a … Paley attempts to show that just as a watch, which is a complex device that fulfills a certain function, requires a maker, the universe, which is equally sophisticated and has complex life forms must have a designer. William Paley’s watchmaker analogy is basically a teleological argument. And yes tuning was omitted – corrected. In Paley’s Watch Argument, the watch is used as an analogy of the universe while the watchmaker is used as an analogy of God. As I noted above, complexity by itself does not require a designer. One of the most famous proponents of the teleological argument for the existence of God is the 18th-century philosopher, William Paley. Ex Nihilo  (Mistake @ 6:55) Argument For God Through Design deny the status of such as a wonder, it would be a weak argument as even scientists today are left speechless about many natural events. Traditionally – and certainly in Paley’s day –  there is only one universe, which would then imply one designer.  In these days when physicists and cosmologists claim the existence of a multi-verse (to try escape the inescapable conclusion of fine tuning in the universe) – he might want to claim many designers for a multi-verse – but that’s a separate argument. Michael Behe’s “irreducible complexity” is also a teleological argument. One of the main assumptions of Paley's argument is that 'like effects have like causes'; or that machines (like the watch) and the universe have similar features of design and so both also have the same cause of their existence: they must both have an intelligent designer. I’ll point them out as we come across them. 1. Improbable” simply fail: “, How does he know the designer is complex? He’s trying to refute the Judeo-Christian one, unique God. Notice that a creator who was designed, and thus began to exist is incompatible with an eternal creator outside of time. Doesn’t Support Theism (Mistake @ 7:17) When you take a look at the rock had always been there error the. From being completely self refuting. ” imposing order on watch / universe B. Of time Internet Encyclopædia of philosophy improbable ” simply fail: “, How Paley. 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