W. Paley’s Natural Theology (1802)
Paley does not think that the argument from design is best applied to cosmology, perhaps because of Laplace. Instead, he applies it to living organisms, although the book does contain a chapter on design in cosmology which is heavily influenced by Newton.
A. The watch analogy
- The watch (or any other complex human artifact) displays irreducible complexity (not Paley’s terms): the parts have to be just so and function simultaneously for the watch to work at all. This shows that design involving forethought is at work, and forethought presupposes an intelligent designer (an intelligent person).
- Living organisms display the same design characteristics: the eye as the telescope
NOTE: the eye example is traditional, as it appears in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum.
- Hence, living organisms involve an intelligent designer. The fact that living organisms reproduce does not affect the argument.
Objections:
- We have not seen the designing or the making of a single organism.
Reply: Ignorance of craftsmanship does not affect the argument. Compare to the case of a lost art.
- The organism (the watch) is not optimally designed.
Reply: Less than optimal design is still design.
- There are parts whose function we do not understand
Reply: the argument still applies to the parts whose design we understand.
- The design is brought about by unintelligent agencies, e.g. a principle of order or some law of living organisms.
Reply: a principle of order or a law aside from an intelligence agent are nonsense, for they are nothing but “the modes according to which an agent proceeds.”
B. The argument is cumulative: the eye shows design, and so does the ear, etc.
C. Prospective Contrivances: In the growth of organisms, at times parts are provided beforehand which are not used until later. This implies a contemplation of the future (forethought), which presupposes intelligence.
Examples:
- human teeth: they are formed within the gums and stop there during lactation. Then they grow, and are eventually shed and replaced by adult teeth once the jaw has sufficiently expanded.
- eyes and lungs are already formed in utero, when they are of no use.
D. Omnipotence, omnipotence, omniscience, eternity, self-existence, spirituality are compatible with the nature of the designer, although not derivable from the argument.
E. The unity of God is proved by the uniformity of the plan of the universe, as:
- the laws of nature are universal
- the structure of all large terrestrial mammals is similar; sexual reproduction applies to terrestrial and aquatic animals and plants.
F. The goodness of God.
- God does not want the misery of creatures, otherwise our organs would be designed to produce pain. The analogy is with a sickle, which may produce pain by mishap but not by design, as an instrument of torture would.
Objection: teeth of predators?
Reply: predation balances superfluity.
NOTE: this is, in effect, an aspect of the struggle for existence.
- God is not indifferent to the misery or happiness of creatures, otherwise the fact that creatures enjoy themselves would be merely by chance. Fish, bees, aphids, hares, have a very jolly time.
- Hence, God wishes the happiness of creation
Objection: Pain?
Answer: the salutary role of pain.