Preview

David Hume's Argument Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1584 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
David Hume's Argument Analysis
One of the most recognized critiques of Aquinas is David Hume, who addressed the argument from design in his work Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Hume began by summarizing Aquinas' logic, and the many alterations that followed. Essentially, Hume argued that attributing design in the natural universe to an intelligent creator is flawed in two ways. First, he uses to analogy of a house to discredit Aquinas' inferences.
If we see a house, we conclude, with the greatest certainty, that it had an architect or builder because this is precisely that species of effect which we have experienced to proceed from that species of cause. But surely you will not affirm that the universe bears such a resemblance to a house that we can with the same
…show more content…
Darwin's theory resides on the presence of Natural Selection in the animal kingdom. This means that favorable genetic mutations are "selected" for in nature, thus accounting for complex and highly specific organisms. The selection of favorable genetics is driven through competition for resources and the production of progeny. However, natural selection is a process dependent on random mutations of an organism’s genetic material. It hinges upon the fact that organisms obtaining randomly generated mutations, that provide a selective advantage in their environment, are more likely to form progeny and pass on their …show more content…
Most notably, intelligent design is a theory which has gained much support in modern circles, and attempts to account for flaws in strictly materialistic or teleological views of the universe. Intelligent Design accepts Darwinian evolution as an account referring to the development of life in the universe. The theory also accepts however, that evolution is a strictly materialistic view of the universe and is flawed in its ability to explain life's origins. Intelligent Design looks to teleological evidence to explain the origin of life and the mind behind Darwinian evolution. Thomas Nagel is one of the most notable scholars who has offered support for some of the concepts of intelligent design. Despite being an atheist, and dismissing the concept of an all-powerful God as the driving force behind intelligent design, Nagel argues that evolutionary theory fails to account for human cognition, consciousness and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    While reading Darwin’s Black Box, I felt a little like cheering on the home team for a high school or college basketball team. Like going to the home town game out of a felt obligation, reading Behe’s book would not have been my first choice, but after the first quarter…er chapters I was glad I was reading it. This book sort of plays out like a basketball game, as Behe takes the time to not only support Intelligent design (Offence) but answers the critics of I.D. (Defense) in a very open way, if not always a friendly rivalry. At times I cheered on the rhetoric of I.D. and at other times I was “yelling” at the home town coach, but either way the result will be the same,…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The design argument is an explanation used by theists to prove the existence of God. It is also called the teleological argument. The word teleological comes from the Greek word teleos which means ‘end’ or ‘purpose’. The argument uses observation of the natural world to provide evidence of design and uses this evidence to back up the existence of God as what has been designed needs a designer. As the argument uses evidence to confirm its theory of the universe being designed (as opposed to occurring by chance) it is classed as an a posteriori argument. The design argument provides a range of evidence to argue for the existence of a designer (i.e. God).…

    • 984 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The design argument attempts to explain the existence of god through things we can see in the world around us. It is otherwise known as the “teleological argument”. “Telos” is the Greek word for purpose the teleological argument uses the idea of purpose, order and complexity which we can observe in the universe in order to explain and attempt to prove the existence of god. The design argument is an a prosteriori argument as it uses experience of the world which can be observed in order to reach its conclusions. It is also an inductive argument as the premises support but do not necessitate the conclusion.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First of all, intelligent design claims that intelligent causes are necessary to explain the complexity-rich structures of the life surrounding us and it harbors on the idea of irreducible complexity. Irreducible complexity states how a single system is composed of several well-matched interacting parts that contribute to a basic function, and removal of any one of the parts causes the system to not work properly. Believers of intelligent design think that some biological aspects are too complicated to have evolved on their…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eth/125 Week 4

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Intelligent Design | Intelligent design is the theory that living things show signs of having been designed. Intelligent Design supporters argue that living creatures and their biological systems are too complex to be accounted for by the Darwinian theory of evolution |…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Design arguments are arguments declaring that God exists by comparing the natural world with human creations. One of the most famous design arguments was written by William Paley. Paley compared the natural world to that of a watch. He said that a watch could in no way form naturally as it was far too complex. This is the basis for all design arguments; our world and everything in it is too complex to be created so randomly and without help. This argument is not about a religious God or Heaven or Hell, it is simply about looking at the infinite coincidences that occurred in a specific order to allow for life and survival; then contemplating if they are coincidences at all. William Paley would say that, of course, they are not coincidences as…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Telelogical argument

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Examine the key ideas and strengths of the design argument for the existence of God?…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The anthropic principle proposes that the reason and purpose for the universe is the support of human life: ‘As we look out into the Universe and identify the many accidents…the Universe must in some case have know we were coming’ (Freeman Dyson, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle). It also demonstrates that the design argument need not reject the principles of evolution in order to assume a designing God. However, theistic supporters of evolution argue that scientific principles alone are not enough to explain a perfectly balanced natural order that…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Teleological Argument

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Evolution of species from other species primarily through natural selection explains that organisms adapt to their surroundings (McGrath, 2010). Darwinism replaced teleological explanations with physical ones of natural selection. The universe is designed in a way that it works through specific designs. Biology is design based and adopts the notion of design and teleology. One of the most mystifying things about the universe is that it permits any kind of design to work the way it does. There is teleology in both the biological and the technical world because the universe is simply designed that way. Natural selection in Darwinism explains how a fine working design has a chance of reproduction but not why the design works the way it does. This is explained by teleology which is the basis for natural selection.…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Give an account of the fundamental ideas of the Design Argument for the existence of God…

    • 1541 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The argument for design has evolved over time as both theologians and philosophers have needed to adjust their arguments supporting this theory to address an ever changing landscape of scientific, biological and cosmological discovery. Despite this the essence of the argument remains intact those in support of the theory would argue that our existence on this earth and in this universe is far too complex a chain of events to have happened by chance. That in fact the existence of the universe is itself the result of a set of such improbable circumstances that there has to be intelligence behind its creation an architect, a creator or in religious terms a God (Chappell, 2011, p. 55). The versions of this argument are in my opinion interesting…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Humes believed that if there is no order then there is no need for an orderer. Analogies depend on who decided on them, therefore he believed they do not work. Order is a necessary part of the universe but this self-sustaining order could very well be the product of chance. “We have no evidence of world making”. To show this he uses different analogies. His ship analogy suggests that to design and build a ship you need many workers, so the universe may well have been created by a whole team of gods. I agree with this analogy as it would be too much for just one God. Ockham’s razor believes God is all perfect so you only need one. Designers can be foolish and weak so in the analogy God could be foolish and weak. Also there is faulty design which implies a faulty designer, “The first rude attempt of some infant deity”. Another analogy is that Humes says the world is more like a vegetable which do not need designing because they just grow naturally. So the world is a result of germinations rather than design.…

    • 666 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Evolving Science

    • 818 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Will believers in Intelligent Design be able to embrace the incredibly promising and innovative solutions outlined in Luke Bawazer’s Tedtalk while rejecting Darwin’s theory?…

    • 818 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Design Argument Analysis

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages

    John Stuart Mill, does this in "Nature and the utility of Religion. He does this by ascribing the designer to human characteristics. He argues that events that occur that out of human control or prevention, nature is guilty in which no one is held accountable for. However, the actions in which humans and animals undergo, would never go unpunished if there was a human agency involved. On the topic of the argument from design, Mill strongly believes that there is no intelligent agency in the universe, and if the argument was to succeed one would be forced to conclude that " Either there is no God or there exists and incompetent or immoral God", as this would not fit in with the God of Classical Theism.…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Central to the theory of evolution, is natural selection. Evolutionary theory was developed by Charles Darwin to explain the ways in which animals adapt to their environments (Akert, Aronson, Sommers, and Wilson 43). Natural selection, is the process by which heritable traits that promote survival in particular environments are passed along to…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays