Explain the strengths & weaknesses of the Design Argument for the existence of God.
INTRODUCTION
DESIGN ARGUMENT – ESSAY STRUCTURE
Typical question for part ‘A’ is:
1/ Always start with a definition – what you understand to be the Design Argument:
1a/ The universe has regularity, purpose and order.
1b/ The complexity of the universe shows evidence of design.
1c/ Such design implies a designer.
1d/ The designer of the universe is God.
2/
The argument is ‘A Posteriori’ in that it is based on experience and not reason or revelation, using the world around us as evidence.
3/ The argument is Inductive as it goes from specifics to generalisations, so it can provide probabilities but not absolute truth. But it does allow exploration & progress of ideas.
4/ The two main Design arguments are ‘qua’ (relating to) regularity & qua purpose.
STRENGTHS
5/ It is best to concentrate on the 4 main philosophers: Aquinas, Paley, Tennant &
Swinburne & use the others in your analysis in part ‘B’ as support or criticism of them.
6/ Saint Thomas Aquinas was a 13 th century monk who developed 5 ways to ‘prove the existence of God. The 5 th way concerns the design argument.
6a/ He identified the way natural bodies act in a regular fashion (eg the seasons)
6b/ He also believed living things are directed to their goal for some purpose (eg whales migrating thousands on miles to their breeding grounds).
7/ William Paley was an 18 th century vicar (Archdeacon of Carlisle) who put forward the most famous argument for the existence of God, qua purpose.
7a/ Paley compared inanimate designed objects with the universe. He made the
Analogy of the pocket watch and the human eye. He stated that the watch shows signs of purpose and evidence of design - by a watch designer. By comparison the eye also shows signs of purpose and evidence of design and, being far more complex than the watch, must also have had a designer - God.
7b/ Paley also had a second argument qua regularity similar to Aquinas, but unlike
Aquinas, Paley had the advantage of better and more accurate scientific knowledge. Paley used the regularity of the planets etc.
8/ F R Tennant was a 20 th century philosopher who proposed the Anthropic Principle as a development of the Design Argument. He argued that the universe is constructed for the development of life, but if there had been any minute changes in the strong nuclear force or the charge of the electron then life would have been unlikely to develop. Tennant argued that
God has designed the world including the mechanism of evolution. Tennant cited 3 types of evidence:
8a/ The world can be analysed in a rational manner.
8b/ The way the inorganic world has provided the necessities required to sustain life (Carbon based).
8c/ The progress of evolution towards the emergence of intelligent human life.
9/ Tennant also developed the Aesthetic Argument to prove the existence of God. He argued that humans possess the ability to appreciate the beauty of their surroundings including Art, music literature, yet such appreciation is not necessary for survival. The fact that the world is ‘saturated in beauty’ is evidence for an omnibenevolent God as it cannot be the result of natural selection.
10/ Richard Swinburne argues that random chance is not a good explanation for the appearance of Design and, using the principle of Occam’s Razor, which states that the simplest explanation is likely to be the most accurate, Swinburne believed that God being the designer was the most probable explanation. He believed that the strength of the Inductive
Design argument was cumulative and built with other arguments to provide a strong case for
God.

WEAKNESSES
11/ David Hume in his book, “Dialogues concerning Natural Religion” argues from a logical position against the Design Argument for God. The argument is presented in ‘play’ form with the character of Cleanthes playing a supporter of the Design Argument and Philo playing a Hume like sceptic. Hume postulates 5 main reasons. (You should mention this but you will probably only have time to mention 3 of them - Use the first three below):
11a/ By far the most compelling reason is that Hume says we have no experience of the creation of the world and cannot come to any conclusion as to a designer. The more we use analogy to try to prove God, then the more anthropomorphic (human like) we make him and
God ends up as a kind of superman (made in our image).
11b/
Hume’s 2 nd argument is a development of the 1 st . Here, Hume humorously suggests several lesser deities (gods) rather than the God of Classical Theism; or even an infant deity who progressed on to bigger & better worlds (Use Infant deity quote) .
11c/ The imperfections of the world and the existence of evil and suffering would suggest that if there were a designer it would not be the omnibenevolent theistic God.
11d/ Hume suggests that to discuss the design of the universe in human terms was not an acceptable analogy as God transcends human understanding. Hume suggests we should think of many gods or a committee of gods rather than the God of Classical Theism.
11e/ Lastly Hume thinks we should not liken the universe to some vast machine but compare it to a vegetable or an inert animal which grows of its own accord rather than made by hand.
12/ Charles Darwin was a Christian who delayed publication of his book, “On the Origin of the Species by means of Natural Selection” as he knew the contents would upset the
Church. But he did publish in 1859 as a competitor was about to beat him to it. Darwin did not deny God’s role in creation but offered a different mechanism than provided in the biblical creation accounts in Genesis. Darwin argued that random cell mutations gave an advantage to some and these went on to survive and breed where the less fortunates died out
(eg Giraffes with longer necks) Herbert Spencer coined the phrase, “Survival of the fittest”.
13/ Immanuel Kant said the Design Argument depended on the assumption that there was design in the universe & must be the work of an independent designer who imposed regularity and purpose upon it. Kant said, however, that the universe may be in chaos but because the way our minds organise our experiences, the world around us appears to be ordered. We impose the design on the world ourselves. The film, The Matrix by the Wachowski brothers , explored this theme in some depth.
Typical question for part ‘B’ is:
Do you believe that the Design argument is a strong argument for the existence of God?
INTRODUCTION
14/ Because the Design Argument is an Inductive one we can only do as Swinburne suggests and that is think in terms of probabilities rather than proof, but a cumulative case is not agreed upon, though the Argument has strengths and support.
15/ None of the main protagonists base their arguments on the Biblical God of creation.
Aquinas, Paley and Swinburne base their ideas on a reasoned argument based on experience of the world and its contents and not on Genesis. This is similar to Tennant’s ideas which in turn are based on Darwin’s evolutionary theories. All Tennant is doing is putting God as the author of evolution.
16/ Hume would agree that there could be design and a designer of the universe but is adamant that there is no evidence for the God of Classical Theism.
17/ Support for the Design Argument comes from some 20 th century scientists who attack evolution and so support the Design Argument by default. For example Michael Behe and
William Dembski both argue for ‘Intelligent Design’, stating that some complex organs existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications. Darwin himself agreed his theory would break down if this were so.

18/ Ward and Polkinghorne support Tennant’s Anthropic Principle in believing that evolution is compatible with a cosmic intelligence who created the definite goal of consciousness for his creatures.
19/ Design qua regularity gets some direct support from Arthur Brown , who argues that the ozone layer is there to protect life and could not have just the right properties by chance.
Paul Davies coins the phrase, ‘The Goldilocks enigma’ to show that things are not to large, hot etc and not too small, cold etc but ‘just right’.
20/ But the strengths of the argument are countered by the weaknesses:
21/ It could be argued that it is arrogant to suppose the ozone layer is there specifically for our protection. It may be the case that we developed in light of the ozone layer and not the ozone layer in light of us.
22/ Tennant's Aesthetic Argument is weakened by
Anthony O’Hear’s
idea that beauty is
‘in the eye of the beholder’ and is subjective. Also beauty is necessary for plants to attract bees that fertilise many plant species and also in humans and other animals beauty is used to attract a mate.
23/
Swinburne’s reliance on Occam’s Razor might not stand up to scrutiny. God might be the simplest explanation for believers but a non-believer might see things from a different perspective.
24/ Hume gets support from John Stuart Mill . Mill puts forward the dysteleological argument that says that the world is badly designed and that evil and suffering do not point to an all-loving God. Though saying that the theodicies of Augustine, Irenaeus and others do offer some justification for God in the face of suffering.
25/ The modern Big Bang theory offers some support for Darwin’s ideas but Darwin deals only in life, whereas the Big Bang deals in a time before life began.
26/ The Epicurean Hypothesis is a different worldview to Big Bang and states that the atoms and space that comprise the universe have always existed and over infinite time will come together to form the stars and the planets. It is weak though as it assumes a constant dynamic state and any stability would be over in a moment. The Epicurean Hypothesis might possibly work in the multi-verse theory which dispenses with the need for a designer as every possible permutation of design is allowed for, dispensing with any need for purpose or regularity.
27/ Darwin gets support from the 20th century biologist and atheist, Richard Dawkins . It is probably Dawkins more than any other who has associated the name of evolution with atheism.
28/ Thomas McPherson supports Kant’s claim that we impose our own sense of order on a chaotic world. McPherson says that we order the world though the use of language – “How can we talk seriously of the existence of a world independent of order, when to talk at all is to impose order?”
29/
Dawkins’ ‘Scaffolding’ theory seriously undermines the Intelligent Design of Behe.
Also, Peter Lipton’s ideas of nature’s ‘by-products’ not being designed, calling them
‘spandrels’.
30/ Paul Davies sums up the Design Argument by partly agreeing with Swinburne. Davies agrees it is down to probabilities and individual judgement and the universe might be designed by God but Davies is quick to point out there is no evidence that this might be the
God of Classical Theism and could be just as easily a Deist God who is little more that just a
Designer.
31/ It might be seen as a strong, convincing argument from a believer’s viewpoint but not from anyone else’s viewpoint.
JGB