I see the design argument as supportive of Christianity. Design argument believes that it is inevitable that some objects were made at some point. Paley believes that the watch had a maker who designed it with a purpose. The maker made it at some time and place for a purpose. It supports the Christian narrative that God created nature and everything in the world for a purpose.
In Darwin's natural selection model and Paley's design argument, there are situations of either and or. Darwin noted that Paley's opinion that the design appearance must be the result of the design was countered by introducing a workable evolutionary change model. The change was inevitable, and it took place for a purpose. Paley's writing proposed natural selection, and it could not be that he made an error. Pay viewed the contradiction of chance as a significant part of his argument. Darwin and Paley agreed that chance had an interest in nature but could not create adaptive complexity. Everything was designed for a purpose, including the species that people think are purposeless. 1 They believed that nothing in nature happened by nature, but it could be the work of God the creator. Paley projected a free morph space in which radically different species constantly come into existence. It contrasts Darwin's late prominence on small-scale disparity ascending in species and then getting organized generation by generation. 2 Paley viewed extinction as something that never happens. He claimed that widespread extinction would render the classification of species impossible. On the contrary, before Darwin's time, the history of life established extinction as a typical process. Today, it is acknowledged that a large number of species that existed are no longer on Earth.
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Part 2
Response to Ronald Vanorder
I agree with Vanorder that even though design arguments do not reflect all Christian faith, they support Christianity with the notion of God the creator. Paley draws reference to a rock and a watch. It is unavoidable that the stone did not get there by chance, neither the rock. The watch had a watchmaker, and God created the rock. Paley's readers can observe the natural world and determine the presence of a maker. That is clear support to the Christian narratives about God.
Additionally, Vanorder claims that Natural Selection might not be compatible with God's notion of scripture, a "Designer" if it meant either "Blind Watchmaker" or general common descent. 3 The opinion is correct because of Darwin's difficulties: the lack of a perfect geological record in his intermediate species theory. He used Natural Selection to explain the facts about common descent best.
Response to Mark Dunn
According to Dunn, the design argument strongly support Christianity because of the appearance of design and order in the world. I agree with him that there is the presence of an organized and understandable design in nature. The order gives evidence of a designer who Christians believe is God. Thus, the design argument describes and supports the Christianity belief that God made the world and placed everything in it in an orderly manner.
Moreover, I agree with Dunn on the criticism of naturalistic evolution. Laws studied by scientists are already in place, and they do not just appear. Natural selection still existed even before Darwin's study concluded that nature selects the most extraordinary adapted organisms. He adds that Darwin intended to eliminate Paley's design argument, or he believed he had the only satisfactory theory. 4 I can't entirely agree with this because Darwin used Paley's adaptation thinking to develop his work, and he made direct citations.
Response to Ruth Ortiz
I agree with Ortiz that the teleological argument supports Christianity. God created the beautiful things in the world and evidence that he could be a designer. God, the creator, had designed all the things and nature for a purpose. It is similar to the Christian narrative that God made a beautiful place for them, and thus they acknowledge his works of creation.
Ortiz does not see Darwin's theory and Paley's argument as strictly either/or. Design elements still exist and could be derivations from freehand mechanistic developments. Paley has a strong opinion regarding nature design. He describes the rock, the watch, and the watchmaker. He believes that the stone has been there forever, unlike the watch. The look was designed, and many parts were placed together for a purpose. 5 However, even though the stone has always been there, it also has a sense, just like the watch. It assumes that God the creator brought up specific species in the world because not every person can understand.
Question
What do you think about Paley's design and diversity? Do the various species bear the hallmarks of design?
Bibliography
Alister E. McGrath, Science & Religion: A New Introduction (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 36 – 37.
Ferngren, Gary B., ed. Science and religion: a historical introduction . JHU Press, 2017.
James Moore, “Charles Darwin,” in Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction , 2nd ed., Gary B. Ferngren, ed. (Baltimore, MD: John’s Hopkins University Press, 2017), 196.
William Paley, “The Argument from Design,” in Natural Theology (1800).
