♥ Ace of Hearts
the teleological family
The Watchmaker Argument
William Paley
Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (Natural Theology)
AnalogicalConcludes what a known parallel entitles us to infer.
- Argument form
- Argument from analogy (a fortiori: watch to nature)
- Concludes to
- Intelligent agent (a maker who comprehended nature's construction and designed its use)
- Premise ground
- Empirical (contrivance in artefacts is known to come from a maker; like effects, like causes)
- Modal strength
- Actual
- What it licenses
- Period
- Nineteenth Century (1802)
- Tradition
- Natural theology (British)
Further reading
- Source text, public domain
Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deitynaturaltheologyo1802pale.pdf - A scholarly account
Read an exposition of the argument - A principal objection
Read the objection in full
This formulation is ours, composed from the primary source and compressed to fit the card; the argument admits of other statements. Objections have been made to every argument in the deck; where one is linked above, it is chosen by us, not written by us.
ergocards.com/watchmaker
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