Theist: "I have evidence of God. Just look at the order in the universe? Look at the trees! They are designed to clean the air. Look at birds! They are designed perfectly to fly. Look at the human eye, and compare it to a camera! Look at how complex it is; it's designed perfectly to allow for vision."
Any skeptic will invariably run into a theist offering similar logic for how things in nature are designed. They may even try to use the cliched (and many times debunked) watchmaker analogy.
Theist: "You can tell design just be looking at something. If you run into a watch on a sandy beach, you'll know it was designed just by looking at it! You can see the complexity, the order, the purpose."
What the theist usually doesn't realize when they make this argument is that cannibalizes itself because it presumes that one can distinguish between a designed thing and a non-designed, while at the same time beginning with a presupposition that there are no non-designed things! The argument destroys itself.
The next time someone tells you that something natural looks designed, ask them "what does a non-designed thing look like?" And when they inevitably fail to answer, that’s when both of you will realize the failure of their argument! 😉
The way we can tell that something looks designed is by contrasting it with that which occurs in nature. Rocks occur in nature; rocket ships do not. Sand occurs in nature; watches do not. Thus, we can presume that when we see these things, one is natural while the other is designed. But in a theistic worldview EVERYTHING "looks designed" because they begin with a presupposition that everything IS designed. Consequently, they have no frame of reference to distinguish between a designed thing and a non-designed thing. From that perspective, a rock would look just as "designed" as a rocket ship!
The other way the argument from design fails is that we can confirm design by demonstrating a designer. The designer of a watch for example can be demonstrated. We can see people designing and constructing watches. But theists cannot show any gods designing or constructing rocks. In fact, a god constructing a rock is the very thing they are trying to prove in the first place. But you don't prove that by showing us the rock, you prove that by showing us the rock-maker! If you can't show the rock-maker, then there is no reason for us to conclude that rocks had a maker, or that they are "designed" by anyone.
Theist: "I have evidence of God. Just look at the order in the universe? Look at the trees! They are designed to clean the air. Look at birds! They are designed perfectly to fly. Look at the human eye, and compare it to a camera! Look at how complex it is; it's designed perfectly to allow for vision."
Any skeptic will invariably run into a theist offering similar logic for how things in nature are designed. They may even try to use the cliched (and many times debunked) watchmaker analogy.
Theist: "You can tell design just be looking at something. If you run into a watch on a sandy beach, you'll know it was designed just by looking at it! You can see the complexity, the order, the purpose."
What the theist usually doesn't realize when they make this argument is that cannibalizes itself because it presumes that one can distinguish between a designed thing and a non-designed, while at the same time beginning with a presupposition that there are no non-designed things! The argument destroys itself.
The next time someone tells you that something natural looks designed, ask them "what does a non-designed thing look like?" And when they inevitably fail to answer, that’s when both of you will realize the failure of their argument! 😉
The way we can tell that something looks designed is by contrasting it with that which occurs in nature. Rocks occur in nature; rocket ships do not. Sand occurs in nature; watches do not. Thus, we can presume that when we see these things, one is natural while the other is designed. But in a theistic worldview EVERYTHING "looks designed" because they begin with a presupposition that everything IS designed. Consequently, they have no frame of reference to distinguish between a designed thing and a non-designed thing. From that perspective, a rock would look just as "designed" as a rocket ship!
The other way the argument from design fails is that we can confirm design by demonstrating a designer. The designer of a watch for example can be demonstrated. We can see people designing and constructing watches. But theists cannot show any gods designing or constructing rocks. In fact, a god constructing a rock is the very thing they are trying to prove in the first place. But you don't prove that by showing us the rock, you prove that by showing us the rock-maker! If you can't show the rock-maker, then there is no reason for us to conclude that rocks had a maker, or that they are "designed" by anyone.