Weaknesses of the teleological argument

It is a contradicting argument

This is because it is backed up by scientific causes but based on divine ideas

The universe resembles natural organisms rather than human inventions

Therefore the comparison in unreasonable

Hume criticises the bad analogy

This is because we have insufficient knowledge of the universe to postulate a God and even if there was a designer of the earth it may not be God and there could be more than one God

Hume suggests that the existence of evil points to a bad designer

Because the analogy humanises God

Hume suggests that the universe could have been a random accident

Just because things in our existence are designed doesn’t mean that the universe was designed

The Epicurean hypothesis implies that the emergence of a stable environment was inevitable

This is because atoms and time are unlimited

Darwins theory of evolution means natural selection can explain the complexity and beauty of nature

Therefore the world seems organised and ordered as it has gradually developed to support life and not because it was designed

Richard Dawkins argues the world has not been designed

But instead evolution gives the appearance of an apparent design

Kant says order is a human concept and we impose order to make sense of the world

Order does not actually exist so it is not a mark of design so there cannot be a designer God