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Paley Watchmaker Argument Summary

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Weaknesses of the Argument Paley gives the example of the watch being complex, so it must have a creator. Things can be complex, without having a designer, for example a snowflake. If we were created by an intelligent designer, then why are we not perfect? If God created us, then why do babies die young? Why do natural disasters kill millions and millions of people? God is meant to be omniscient and benevolent, yet why does he let these atrocities take place. Even if there was an intelligent designer that created us and our universe, what evidence is there to show that it’s God. Based on past experience we know that a watch will have been designed by a human, however we have no past experiences of a universe being created by an intelligent designer. Even though it is extremely unlikely that a watch could have been created by random chance, it is still not impossible; there is still the slightest chance that this could happen. …show more content…

Paley simply responds to this by saying that something doesn’t have to perfect to show that there was a designer. Another problem with this argument is that things in a watch (or a universe) contain different parts that look like they have no function, so these parts are somewhat proof that he universe wasn’t designed. Paley replies to this by saying that just because we do not know the function of something it doesn’t mean that it has no function, Paley looks at different parts of the watch (or universe) and from this he decides that it must have been

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