(February 27, 2021 at 2:30 pm)Five Wrote: I actually really like to hear discussions of the Watchmaker argument and picking it apart. So, it's an appeal to the irreducible complexity argument in biology, where there are some things in nature that are so complex they must have an intelligent designer. Yet the analogy doesn't work at all.
Because in the example, you're walking along a beach and find a watch. Based on your prior knowledge of watches and comparing it to the simplicity of the sand around it, supposedly, you can assume the watch was created by an intelligent designer. But that's a contrast that hinges on "things made by a human" and "things not made by a human". So, when making the analogy fit with "things created by God" the answer is "everything."
The complexity of a thing doesn't actually matter.
Yes, & no. Design has perfectly naturalistic explanations. All living organisms are products of design; natural selection. Every biological organism alive today is the product of millions of years of 'design.'
I think Dawkins used the analogy of puddles being perfectly designed for the holes they fill. Each puddle perfectly matches the shape of the hole. Dawkins is usually not very good at philosophy, but I think that's an excellent analogy.
Bu I would go further and say that since the very laws of nature, of matter & biology, seem almost intended for this end, we can say the universe has meaning & purpose beyond beyond what pure materialism is willing to admit.
