long essay

Submitted By messham98
Words: 937
Pages: 4
Open Document
RS essay. Will Messham
Criticisms of the analogical argument.
The design argument is the simplest, most straightforward argument for the existence of God. The design argument in a nutshell is that the fact that everything in nature seems to be put together in just the right manner suggests that an intelligent designer was responsible for its creation, Kant a critic of the design argument recognized both its simplicity and its importance. He wrote, "This proof always deserves to be mentioned with respect. It is the oldest, the clearest, and the most accordant with the common reason of mankind".
The most famous criticisms of the analogical version of the design argument appear in David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. A friend of Hume reportedly said“Hume’s destructive criticism of the argument was final and complete.” his thoughts are shared by many. As we will see, however, defenders of the design argument claim that Hume’s criticisms apply only to the some of the arguments points. most of Hume’s criticisms center the traditional design argument. The problem, according to Hume, is that the analogy in question is not as strong as it needs to be in order to succeed. The more the universe diversitises, the stronger the argument will be, but the less the universe acts like an artifact, the weaker it will be.
Hume also argues that there are analogies that are the opposite to the belief in a designer. He thinks the analogical design argument correctly says that we generally infer properties about a manufacturer from properties we observe in their products. But he claims the argument ignores important facts about our world. For example, from the very expensive Rolex watch, one can infer that the manufacturer has the highest commitment to quality. When one is faced with a cheaper product, we think it isn't as designed as well. If faced with an inferior watch i would make bad assumptions about the designer.
Furthermore, there are many faults with our world that we live in. AIDS, heart disease, famines, plagues, floods, and countless other tragedies. If God is a Divine Watchmaker, as Paley claimed, the world looks to be more like a cheap watch, maybe made by Mr Rattray than a Rolex. In other words, if we are going to infer by analogical characteristics of the Creator from characteristics of its creatin, it doesn’t seem we can say that the Creator had to be perfect because the world is anything but perfect. Hume suggests that maybe the universe was created by a junior deity who is just learning the ropes of universe creation and didn’t get things quite right this time.
One of my main criticisms with the analogical argument is that it takes such a huge leap forward rather suddenly. It goes from indentifiying a rock as not being as complex as a watch, to saying the watch was obviously designed, then straight away it goes to the conclusion that the whole word was created by a divine theistic God. In my opinion there is simply not enough evidence to make such a large assumption. Also Paley made this assumption in his 1802 book (Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity). In 1802 they made very little idea of the universe and it's wonders. Paley made this assumption purely on the world he saw around him, He didn't have any idea of all the millions of barron planets with no purpose or meaning to them. He refused to believe everything happened by chance simply because his
Show More

Related Documents: long essay

long essay

Caroline Mauney ECD-237-700 Mrs. Kim Tolbert March 25, 2014 My Philosophy of Education What is your general philosophy toward education in general? It is my belief that through education, an individual will receive the vital skill and tool that are necessary to build a life that is prosperous and successful. Within and educational setting, students should be encouraged to solve problems similar to those that they will encounter outside of school, and this instills in them skills that are necessary…

Words 1861 - Pages 8

How Long Is Long Enough? Essay

How long is long enough? Discrimination in its broad meaning is a treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit. Today, most cases of discrimination that are brought to court are related to employment discrimination. The plaintiffs have different reasons for filing a discrimination lawsuit against their employers. Some employees file a lawsuit…

Words 1096 - Pages 5

The Long Fuse Essay

The Long Fuse In Laurence Lafore's book titled The Long Fuse he discusses the conflicts of World War I and describes how Austria-Hungary was considered to be the "Second Sick Man of Europe". During a time when Europe seemed to be moving faster towards progressive ideas and towards the sweeping away of old institutes, Turkey was the original Sick Man of Europe, mostly caused constitutional and national problems. The European order was based upon the assumption of nations in 1871, a kind of mutual…

Words 988 - Pages 4

The Long Fuse Essay

The long fuse In the book of Laurence Lafore entitled The Long Fuse it discusses the conflicts of the first world war and describes as Austria-Hungary was considered the "Second sick man of Europe". During a time when Europe seemed to move more quickly toward progressive ideas and toward the sweeping away of the old institutions, Turkey was the original sick man of Europe, for the most caused constitutional problems and national. The european order was based on the assumption of nations in 1871,…

Words 349 - Pages 2

long story Essay

WASHINGTON — With the long-awaited Senate report on the use of torture by the United States government — a detailed account that will shed an unsparing light on the Central Intelligence Agency’s darkest practices after the September 2001 terrorist attacks — set to be released Tuesday, the Obama administration and its Republican critics clashed over the wisdom of making it public, and the risk that it will set off a backlash overseas. While the United States has put diplomatic facilities and military…

Words 2961 - Pages 12

Deforestation Long Essay

What is deforestation? Deforestation is when humans remove or clear large areas of forest lands and related ecosystems for non-forest use, where the trees are never re-planted. These also include clearing for farming, ranch and urban uses. This results in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world's land area, but groups of forest the size of Panama are lost each and every year. How deforestation works There are many different methods of deforestation for…

Words 1398 - Pages 6

The Writing of the Long Song Essay

The writing of the long song “How can I be proud of my Jamaican roots, when my ancestors had been slaves”? This question asked by a woman with Jamaican roots followed British novelist Andrea Levy for a long time. She wondered how anyone could be ashamed of his or her legacy and thus the foundation of her book, The Long Song, was laid. However, writing the book was a more difficult task than presumed. Levy considered many things at the preliminary stage of the book as she knew that she didn’t want…

Words 954 - Pages 4

Long Essay Cindy

profit, cheap labour while employees focus on welfare, bonus, entertainment which lead to reciprocal conflict and convergence. In the meantime, employers and employees will adjust their commitment and obligation depending on their fulfilment. This essay will focus on two vital factors that effect psychological contract change. First factor is different perception of psychological contract between employees and employers. Second is about breaches and violations in psychological contract. Employees’…

Words 832 - Pages 4

APUSH Long Essay

erica looking for jobs and take low wages for profits, and once they reach that they return to their countries. Immigration was not the only factor that native American workers had to face during this time. Workers had to face in a daily basis long 12 hour shifts; poor sanitation and hygiene was very common; some machinery posed dangerous hazards to the worker; many industries used child labor in their factories; and sometimes workers were not paid in full. In order to fight against all o…

Words 779 - Pages 4

The Long Thanksgiving Essay

The Long Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a time of reflection and festivity, joy and pain, laughter and tears, all disguised as a holiday season. 2011 was the year that Thanksgiving would not end. Bernice had perfected holiday planning with years of experience. There were special place settings, distinctive menu formats, guest invites, intricately folded napkins, all designed to make a visual impact. Next were lists of things to do, household repairs to make, charts for what needed cleaning, and…

Words 1187 - Pages 5