1. Objections to the Design Argument
From
David Hume

2. David Hume

3. Your Task
You have 10 mins to come up with 2 objections to the Design Argument.
Write them down on the big sheet of paper!

4. 1.
Even if the design argument was right, it still doesn’t prove that God was the designer. It could just as easily have been a different being who is the opposite of what we think God is.

5. 2.
Because we think the universe must have been designed doesn’t prove it actually was.

6. 3.
If it was designed – who or what caused the designer?

7. 4.
If we believe in a designer because everything seems made, then why wouldn’t that designer be like us in other ways? And if he is, then can’t he make mistakes?

8. 5.
Why must we think there was one God? Why not a team of Gods? Big things tend to be made by more than one person – why not the universe?

9. 6.
Maybe the universe itself is “God”. Maybe it “made” itself. It’s just as reasonable as saying God made himself.

10. 7.
Maybe all the order in the universe is just chance. Maybe the laws of physics “organised” the universe into something which looks as if it must have been made. Maybe the laws of physics are God.

11. 8.
Finally, Hume says the Design Argument fails miserably because the universe shows just as many signs of disorder and irregularity as order and regularity. God could have done a better job.

12. In your jotters
Which one of Hume’s arguments (if any) do you find most convincing? Explain your answer.