Paley's Four Arguments For The Existence Of God
Introduction
Many arguments or testimonies for the Existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, and other thinkers. These arguments have an epistemological dimension and an ontological dimension. The watchmaker argument states that we know life must have been created as it is complex, just as a watch is complex, it draws that watches are created by intelligent life, so, therefore, life must have created by an intelligent being. This argument has many flaws, many questions still yet to have a sound answer, the soundness of this argument, or better fit, analogy, will be discussed throughout this essay. This writing will start by outlining in the first part the origin of the theory/analogy, the in the second part the flaws surrounding the theory, then finally in the third part, the contradictions with other theories such as the one proposed by Charles Darwin.
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This analogy originated when William came across a watch during a stroll. He wondered how this watch came to be. He applied the knowledge that if a watch has a watchmaker, then would the universe also not have a universe maker, a God as such. From this argument, Paley constructs his four arguments for the existence of a
Summary Of Argument From Design By William Paley
784 Words | 4 PagesWilliam Paley was a well known theologian in the 19th century responsible for surmising the existence of “an intelligent creator by design.” His argument, built up to and stated on page 29, Chapter III, paragraph 1 in sentence 1 is as follows: “for every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature”. Before diving into the meaning behind this, there are terms to be defined. By contrivance, Paley means artificiality, or to have been made. A watch, as easy as it is to grasp, is simply the mechanism on your wrist that tells you the time of day.
George Zimmerman's Final Argument
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William Paley's The Teleological Argument
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Annotated Bibliography
472 Words | 2 PagesThis work is appropriate to use in this essay because it shows that the belief in God, and even science, is mainly due to faith. Without faith, both science and God would not exist. Bloom, Paul. “Is God an Accident?” Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing.
Paley's Argument Analysis
846 Words | 4 PagesWilliam Paley’s argument from design starts off with a man seeing a watch on the side of the road. The argument is whether or not someone designed the watch, or if the watch randomly just showed up there itself by random chance. He makes an analogy of watches and humans. He says that since there is a designer that made the watch, there must be a designer that made us humans. The reason that he compares watches to humans is that is because they are both complex and have parts that work very well together.
The Teleological Argument
392 Words | 2 PagesAfter reading The Teleological Argument, William Paley’s conclusion is straightforward and can be stated in just two words: God exists. His entire argument is based on a watch and is used as a means to prove God’s existence. As simple as a watch may seem, Paley describes its complexity and claims that a higher power had to have created its intelligent design. But how does he know that God designed the watch and a man didn’t? Paley argues that we have never seen a watch been made and that we are all incapable of designing something so unique and intelligent; therefore, we can conclude that something greater than us must have created it.
William Rowe Problem Of Evil Summary
55 Words | 1 PagesWilliam Rowe addresses the problem of evil through an examination of the relationship between the existence of evil with an omnibenevolent, omniscient creator. His argument stems from the notion that because human and animal suffering is so intense, an atheist is rational in their belief and that the co-existence of evil and God is unlikely.
JL Mackie's Argument For The Existence Of God?
295 Words | 2 PagesJL Mackie was persuasive in his argument by showing that belief in an almighty God is not rational. He proves this by posing the problem of evil. According to JL Mackie, if God exists and is omniscient, omnipotent, and good then evil would not exist. However, evil exists in this world, sometimes in the form of undeserved suffering (diseases that affect humans, earthquakes, famines ...) and others perpetrated by man (murders, wars ...). If God exists and has the capability to be powerful, good, omniscient and omnipotent, why would he let evil be perpetrated?
Cosmological Vs Ontological Argument
1444 Words | 6 PagesThere have been an innumerable amount of arguments for the existence of God for hundreds of years. Some have become much more popular due to their merit, and their ability to stay relevant through changing times. Two arguments in particular that have been discussed for a very long time are the ontological and cosmological arguments. Each were proposed in the period of the high middle ages by members of the Roman Catholic Church. They each have been used extensively by many since their introduction.
The Design Argument: Does God Exist
965 Words | 4 PagesIn this he questions the attributes of God that are traditionally used to describe him. He claims that there is a lack of foundational evidence to prove that God is not only the creator of the universe but is the All Mighty God that he is described as (Speaks). Rather than Hume arguing that Paley’s argument is false, he focuses heavily on if God even exists or if he is the higher figure that he is painted as. Another argument that can be used against Paley is the theory of the Big Bang Theory.
Wager's Argument For The Existence Of God
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Walter Sinnott-Armstrong's Argument Analysis
2349 Words | 10 PagesThis paper will discuss the problem of evil. In the first part, I will discuss Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s atheist stance and William Lane Craig’s theist stance on the problem of evil. In the final part of this paper, I will argue that Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s argument is stronger. The Problem of Evil
Mackie's Evil And Omnipotence
933 Words | 4 PagesThe question that is asked time and time again is whether or not god exists. It is evident that people hold different beliefs. It is evident that through some of the beliefs of J.L. Mackie that it could be argued that God does not actually exist. I find this argument to be more agreeable. In Mackie’s Evil and Omnipotence, he argues many points to support why it should be believed that god does not exist.
Darwin's Doubt Summary
1777 Words | 8 PagesThe blind watch maker analogy that was presented is brilliant. Creationists, use their own version of the watchmaker argument saying if you were walking down a beach and you found a watch you could assume there was a designer. But when it comes to talking about existence, physical reality, and life, It’s a little different. The analogy at first glance seems to work but then you realize that even metaphorically speaking it’s an equivocation fallacy.
Anselm Vs Descartes Ontological Argument
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