William Paley’s argument from analogy Learning Objective Examine the t.a. Learning Outcomes To know Paley’s argument To explain Paley’s argument via examples

Review – knowledge Summary of the TA so far Define ‘ex nihilo’. What is an analogy? What does Teleos mean? What was Aquinas’ analogy? What is the formal name of Aquinas’ fifth way? ‘From the … Is Aquinas’ argument Qua Purpose or Qua Reguality?

Design Qua regularity: This element of the theory looks at design in relation to the regularity and order of the universe It aligns to the idea that, planets, gasses, the Sun and Moon have a sense of order and regularity (i.e. rotation of the planets) Someone must have given it that sense of order and arrangement (it didn’t/couldn’t arrange itself) This must suggest a designer Check your paragraph explaining Design Qua Regularity

Why did Paley develop a new version of the TA Why did Paley develop a new version of the TA? What happened after Aquinas? Five hundred year after Aquinas the success of science changed the way people saw the universe. New discoveries showed that the earth was just one planet amongst many revolving around the sun. Isaac Newton claimed to have discovered the laws of motion – making the universe appear to be a complex machine. Newton discovered laws of gravity that could be applied across the universe.

Paley’s argument was developed in the 18th century in a response to scientific developments e.g. mechanistic physics that proved that planets moved around the sun according to strict patterns and comprehensive laws. People began to see the universe as a machine

All of these new discoveries were thought by some to be a threat to Christianity – and they did undermine some traditional Church teaching – but others used the new science as evidence that the universe was a glorious work of divine craftsmanship. If the universe machine-like then it needs a designer, just as an ordinary machine such as a watch needs a designer. This leads us to Paley’s argument. Create spider diagram on the information on the previous three slides

William Paley – who was he? 1743-1805 Archdeacon of Carlisle Put forward a very popular teleological (design) argument in his book Natural Theology in 1802

His analogy – listen, writing comes later Paley imagines himself walking across a heath and first coming across a stone, which he strikes with his foot, then finding a watch on the ground. The same question occurs to him on both occasions: ‘how did that object come to be here?’ In the case of the stone, for all Paley knows it may have lain there forever. In the case of the watch, such an answer is unsatisfactory: there is something about the presence of the watch on the heath that demands further explanation

What are the differences between a watch and a stone? THE WATCH It has several parts The parts are framed and work together for a purpose The parts have been made with specific material, appropriate to their action Together the parts produce regulated motion If the parts had been different in any way, such motion would not be produced

Conclusion For Paley the watch has all the evidence of design. Where there is evidence of design there must be a designer. He concludes that the watch must have had a maker. Therefore the universe has to have had a designer - God

Key quotation – learn this one Every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature. William Paley Natural Theology

Design Qua purpose Qua means-relating to This element of the theory looks at the purpose of the design of the universe/world It compares it to man made machines In the sense that, all the parts of the world must have been put together for a specific function All the parts fit together in such a way so the world can exist, and function Check your paragraph explaining Design Qua Purpose

Tasks Complete pages 15-17 in the booklet Use the PPP, the booklet and textbooks to help you

Task Try signing your name or tying your shoes without using your thumb. Is the thumb convincing evidence of a designer? “In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence.” Issac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton’s thumb What did you find out? The thumb operates differently from the fingers and makes the hand very useful. Writing, tying knots, painting and holding things would be much more difficult without a thumb. "In want of other proofs, the thumb would convince me of the existence of a God; as without the thumb the hand would be a defective and incomplete instrument”

Sir Isaac Newton’s thumb Sir Isaac Newton supported the idea that God designed the universe and said that the human thumb was enough to convince him of this. Every human thumb is unique, a sign to Newton that a designer God made each human being different. Newton argued that God chose to do this to show his love and individual care of the things he made. He said that what is true about a human thumb is even truer of the universe itself.