use of analogy

role of analogy

• The role of analogy in the Design Argument is to draw comparisons between the complexity and order of the universe and human-made objects, suggesting that just as artifacts (like watches) are designed by intelligent beings, the universe must also have a designer. 

• William Paley’s analogy is one of the most famous arguments for the existence of a designer.

william paley’s metaphor of a watch

• He argues that just as a watch, with its complex and purposeful design (gears, cogs, hands, etc.), suggests that it was made by an intelligent watchmaker, the universe, which also displays complex order and purpose, must have been designed by a creator.  

• In essence, the complexity of the watch implies the necessity of a watchmaker, and by extension, the complexity of the universe implies a cosmic designer (God). 

fine tuning analogy

•  The Fine-Tuning Analogy is a more modern iteration of the Design Argument, often associated with the Anthropic Principle.  

• It suggests that the universe is "fine-tuned" to support life. This fine-tuning refers to the precise constants and conditions (like the force of gravity or the charge of an electron) that allow life to exist. 

•  Proponents of this analogy argue that just as a machine that is carefully calibrated for a specific function requires a designer, so too does the finely-tuned universe.  

• The precise conditions of the universe are seen as evidence that it was designed by an intelligent being. 

WEAKNESS: hume

• just bc the effect of the universe and effect of man made things are similar because they both have complexity and purpose, doesn’t mean that the cause of the universe must be like the cause of a house/ watch (i.e. a designer

• two effects which are alike (analogous) might have diff causes

• also even if we could claim an analogy between nat things and man-made things, there may be no analogy between their origin

• hume argues that the creation is radically disanalogous to anything else we know of bc the creation is so far from human understanding

COUNTER TO HUME (re: Paley argument)

• Hume’s criticism is unsuccessful because Paley’s argument is arguably not based on an analogy.  

• His argument is that there is a property which requires a designer; the property of complexity and purpose – parts fitted together in a complex way to perform a purpose.  

• When a complex of individually complex parts are fitted together in a meticulous way so as to achieve an overall function/purpose, it seems almost impossible for that to have come about by pure chance. A better explanation is a designing mind.  

• Man-made things have this property but so too do natural things like the eye. Therefore, nature requires a designer because it has this property, not because of any analogy to man-made things.  

• The watch is merely an illustration. We know the universe is designed because it has complexity and purpose. 

STRENGTH: purpose + order

The analogy highlights the idea that both the watch and the universe exhibit purpose, design, and intricate parts that work together, suggesting that they both have a designer