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Single Idea 21276

[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof ]

Full Idea

The inference is inevitable that the watch had a maker; that there must have existed, at some time, an artificer or artificers who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer, who designed its use.

Gist of Idea

From the obvious purpose and structure of a watch we must infer that it was designed

Source

William Paley (Natural Theology [1802], Ch 1)

Book Ref

'The Existence of God', ed/tr. Hick,John [Macmillan 1964], p.100

A Reaction

It rather begs the question to refer to an ordered structure as a 'design'. Why do we think it is absurd to think the the 'purpose' of the sun is to benefit mankind? Suppose we found a freakish natural sundial in the woods.

Related Ideas

Idea 21275 Unlike a stone, the parts of a watch are obviously assembled in order to show the time [Paley]

Idea 21278 All the signs of design found in a watch are also found in nature [Paley]

The 32 ideas with the same theme [order and harmony of nature proves God exists]:

1499 Heraclitus says intelligence draws on divine reason [Heraclitus, by Sext.Empiricus]
480 Past, present and future, and the movements of the heavens, were arranged by Mind [Anaxagoras]
274 Soul must be the cause of all the opposites, such as good and evil or beauty and ugliness [Plato]
21263 If all the motions of nature reflect calculations of reason, then the best kind of soul must direct it [Plato]
13226 An Order controls all things [Aristotle]
610 The world can't be arranged at all if there is nothing eternal and separate [Aristotle]
2649 If tuneful flutes grew on olive trees, you would assume the olive had some knowledge of the flute [Zeno of Citium]
5993 The ascending scale of living creatures requires a perfect being [Cleanthes, by Tieleman]
2647 It is obvious from order that someone is in charge, as when we visit a gymnasium [Cicero]
2650 If a person cannot feel the power of God when looking at the stars, they are probably incapable of feeling [Cicero]
2655 If the barbarians of Britain saw a complex machine, they would be baffled, but would know it was designed [Cicero]
2656 Chance is no more likely to create the world than spilling lots of letters is likely to create a famous poem [Cicero]
20695 God's eternal power and deity are clearly seen in what has been created [Paul]
22735 The original substance lacked motion or shape, and was given these by a cause [Sext.Empiricus]
21808 Soul is author of all of life, and of the stars, and it gives them law and movement [Plotinus]
5753 The regular events of this life could never be due to chance [Boethius]
6819 True believers see that Allah made the night for rest and the day to give light [Mohammed]
21273 Way 5: mindless things act towards an obvious end, so there is an intelligent director [Aquinas]
17024 The elegance of the solar system requires a powerful intellect as designer [Newton]
2595 If the universe is a perfect agreement of uncommunicating substances, there must be a common source [Leibniz]
19417 All substances are in harmony, even though separate, so they must have one divine cause [Leibniz]
19329 The laws of physics are wonderful evidence of an intelligent and free being [Leibniz]
3949 It has been proved that creation is the workmanship of God, from its beauty and usefulness [Berkeley]
6962 The thing which contains order must be God, so see God where you see order [Hume]
21275 Unlike a stone, the parts of a watch are obviously assembled in order to show the time [Paley]
21276 From the obvious purpose and structure of a watch we must infer that it was designed [Paley]
21277 Even an imperfect machine can exhibit obvious design [Paley]
21278 All the signs of design found in a watch are also found in nature [Paley]
21357 No organ shows purpose more obviously than the eyelid [Paley]
1451 Design is seen in the way ideas match the world, in the mechanisms of evolution, and in values [Tennant,FR, by PG]
23892 The only legitimate proof of God by order derives from beauty [Weil]
20707 The universe exhibits design either in its sense of purpose, or in its regularity [Davies,B]