Post by Athans on Oct 30, 2014 16:11:59 GMT -6
Original blog here
Anyone that follows the Intelligent Design/Creationism-Evolution controversy knows that most people trace the origin of the ID argument back to William Paley and his argument about the watch, “the watch maker analogy.” Basically the argument goes like this…
If you found something like a watch, we would conclude there is a watch maker because it is too complex to be random. Since organisms are complex and detailed, there clearly must be a designer.
However, this was not Paley’s main point. Paley goes into great detail about the parts of a watch and argues that it is obviously a “contrivance.” A contrivance must have a contriver, the maker/creator. Yes, creationists get this part, but they ignore what follows. Paley then goes on to explain that a “reproducing watch” would be superior. He is giving credit to our designer. A reproducing watch is superior because it can replicate which means the designer does not have to make every single watch. This would be much more efficient and would make the designer much more superior. He then goes on to make the analogy between organisms and reproducing watches. He argues that organisms display the signs of a designer, just like a watch, but they are able to reproduce. This makes organisms superior to a watch, or analogues to a reproducing watch. From this we can only conclude one thing…
The only thing that would be superior to a creator, that created life, is a creator that does not have to single-handedly create every piece of life. A superior creator would create a mechanism or a life form that could reproduce itself, so that they would not have to create everything one by one.
Charles Darwin proposed a theory of common decent, in which all living things evolved from a single life form, or a few. This is the life or mechanism we would expect to see from a superior creator, based on Paley’s philosophy. The creator simply created a single life form, or a few, and allowed them to reproduce and evolve, creating all the creatures we see today. Darwin’s theory of evolution supports and strengthens Paley’s theory. Intelligent Design proponents should be embracing and promoting Darwin’s theory because it strengthens theirs.
Anyone that follows the Intelligent Design/Creationism-Evolution controversy knows that most people trace the origin of the ID argument back to William Paley and his argument about the watch, “the watch maker analogy.” Basically the argument goes like this…
If you found something like a watch, we would conclude there is a watch maker because it is too complex to be random. Since organisms are complex and detailed, there clearly must be a designer.
However, this was not Paley’s main point. Paley goes into great detail about the parts of a watch and argues that it is obviously a “contrivance.” A contrivance must have a contriver, the maker/creator. Yes, creationists get this part, but they ignore what follows. Paley then goes on to explain that a “reproducing watch” would be superior. He is giving credit to our designer. A reproducing watch is superior because it can replicate which means the designer does not have to make every single watch. This would be much more efficient and would make the designer much more superior. He then goes on to make the analogy between organisms and reproducing watches. He argues that organisms display the signs of a designer, just like a watch, but they are able to reproduce. This makes organisms superior to a watch, or analogues to a reproducing watch. From this we can only conclude one thing…
The only thing that would be superior to a creator, that created life, is a creator that does not have to single-handedly create every piece of life. A superior creator would create a mechanism or a life form that could reproduce itself, so that they would not have to create everything one by one.
Charles Darwin proposed a theory of common decent, in which all living things evolved from a single life form, or a few. This is the life or mechanism we would expect to see from a superior creator, based on Paley’s philosophy. The creator simply created a single life form, or a few, and allowed them to reproduce and evolve, creating all the creatures we see today. Darwin’s theory of evolution supports and strengthens Paley’s theory. Intelligent Design proponents should be embracing and promoting Darwin’s theory because it strengthens theirs.