Teleological Teleological ArgumentArgument

Learning Intentions:By the end of this lesson you will be

able to…1. Describe the Teleological

Argument as set out by William Paley.

Design and Evolution

This section of the course looks at the complexity of the world and how it

could have been created.

1) Intelligent designer (GOD)2) Evolution

This Picture is of a fly’s eye. A fly is a tiny creature with a tiny eye yet that eye is enormously complex and sophisticated. Many

people believe that something so complex and sophisticated could not have happened by accident and that God must have designed

it. This is called the Design Argument.

William Paley

Paley was a Vicar in the Church of England and lived from 1743-1805

Paley said “Imagine you were walking across a heath…

and you found a rock lying in the path.

You would think…’oh a rock. That's probably always just been

here’. Then you would forget about it.

You would think that because a rock is a simple thing with no apparent function or design.

You keep on walking and you find lying on

the path….

A watch

You would think….

‘someone must have made this and

someone must have put it here.’

And if you opened it up and looked at all the wee tiny bits . You

would realise that it had been designed and

built with a purpose.

Something so complex and with such an

obvious purpose could not be the result of an

accident. Someone must have made it that

way”

“Now” said Paley “Think about the world.

Think about how complex and

sophisticated it is.

Think about how well it supports life..

Think about particularly how well it supports human life.

Think about how amazingly complicated

even the tiniest bits are

“The world is like a watch. It is complex and sophisticated and it has a clear and obvious purpose. So Like the watch the world must need a designer”

The only being who could design something as complex and

sophisticated as the world is God So God

must exist

Group TaskGroup Task • Use your big sheet of paper to produce a comic strip of Paley’s journey.

• Both the journey along the path and the journey in his thoughts should be shown.

N.B. You must show every step of the process: going for a walk, the stone, the watch, thinking about the universe comparing the universe and

the watch.