William Paley's "Teleological Argument" states that you can compare God and the creation of the universe/the universe itself to that of a watchmaker and a watch, his argument from analogy. To explain Paley's analogy one must think of the universe as a watch. The watch is a complex object; therefore it must have some sort of purpose and a maker to have created it. Similarly, the universe is also very complex, and therefore must have some sort of purpose and a maker to have created it. One can then compare the watchmaker to God, the maker/creator of the universe. .
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David Hume's "The Argument from Design" can be considered to back Paley's watchmaker/watch analogy. This argument states that the universe is "complex, varied, and workable. "A universe as such could not manage to come into existence with any plan or reason; therefore it must have been created by an intelligent, powerful creator, who can be named as God in such. .
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There are also objections to Paley's argument that Paley responds to in an attempt to back up his argument. One of these objections is that "We have not seen the artist who has made the watch. " Does that mean that there is no watchmaker? Paley responded by saying that perhaps we have never seen a watch being made, or never known an artist capable of making one, we are incapable of making a watch, or we don't understand how a watch is made. But, such ignorance raises no doubt about the existence of an artist at some point in time and some place. Considering Paley's analogy, we know that for a fact a watch needs a watchmaker in order to be made. One could claim that it was impossible for such an object to come about on its own. .
So can we say the same thing for the universe? Since the universe is such a massive complex object, does that mean there needs to be some sort of creator to put this universe into existence? Even though we have never seen a watch being made or know how to make a watch ourselves, we know that a watch needs to be made.
