Palley appeals to natural theology as evidence for certain portions of Christian truth. To what extent are you impressed with his arguments? To what extent are they unconvincing?
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Nature and nature's god (William Paley)
Palley appeals to natural theology as evidence for certain portions of Christian truth. To what extent are you impressed with his arguments? To what extent are they unconvincing?
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I found a passage in Paley's argument that seem to speak to me at the moment "It is a perversion of language to assign any law, as the efficient, operative cause of anything. A law presupposes an agent; for it is only the mode, according to which the power acts. Without the agent, without this power, which are both distinct from itself, the law does nothing; is nothing." This is his explanation of "Natural Law" and one that I really enjoy. I ponder about man in the state of nature sometimes, and I come to the conclusion that every man would make rules and laws for himself. Even if you were the only person on the face of this earth a person would still follow their own set of rules. That same person never having been taught right from wrong would still live the best most moral life he could, even with nothing to judge it against...human beings are inherently good, no original sin for this guy.
ReplyDeleteTo disagree with his argument, as persuasive as his watch argument may be, it still didn't convince me. It just means your really good at deductive reasoning and can figure out the mechanics of a watch; far cry from proving the existence of God, in my book.
I thought Paley’s use of the watch was a nice way to cast doubt on the theories of evolution. But to me it spoke not of a watch found in a field but the entire universe. All the gears and mechanisms that make the clock run in an orderly fashion are the equivalent to the forces that govern the operation of the universe.
ReplyDeleteOnce a watch is set into motion its gears and mechanisms run until its energy runs down. It does not require any user interference for it to do what it is designed to do, well at least until I needs to be wound again. That brings forth questions. Does the universe and what it contains require designer interference once it is set into motion? If the galaxies don’t need management do people need management? Is an individual more or less complex than a galaxy? In the vastness of the universe are we God’s only intelligent creations? Does either a yes or a no answer change anything?
I don’t have answers to those questions. I am sure others are more willing than I am to do that.
Maybe people in Paley’s time raised similar questions and that lead to his writings being suppressed.
Jerry Taylor
I like what William Paley is doing in "Natural Theology". Paley is trying to state in argument over Christianity to other who in fact don't see it as the same for example the Roman Catholic Church. I think he was very convincing every chapter in this book is a different state of the argument. I also liked the quote he did in chapter 3 when he was applying the argument with atheist. "This is Atheism: for every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature; with the difference, on the side of nature"(Bush 357). I'm very impressed with his argument overall because he is able to extract every aspect form the argument when it comes to both a faith side as well as a non faith or non-believer side like atheists.
ReplyDelete"Nature Theology" is a very interesting theory in and of itself. This would be because the theory basically saying the other denominations of Christianity besides Roman Catholic is wrong. Further into the reading, he talks to/about atheism and why the thinking behind it is wrong. Personally, I am very shocked that he would have the gall to say that everyone except the Roman Catholics are wrong in their beliefs.
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