William Paleys Teleological Argument Research Paper

William Paleys Teleological Argument - Research Paper Example When a watch that has an intricate design and function exists, a creator or designer for the watch also exists. Therefore, the existence of the universe and living beings in it uphold the belief that there is someone behind their creation and that creator is God. This can further be discerned from the fact that without a creation no creation is possible. Paley’s view is that a watch has several metal parts and each has a distinct place and function in making the machine work. He then puts forth a reasonable argument that of the alignment is disturbed or if even a tiny part of misplaced, the watch will cease its function. If one puts together bits and pieces of metals and waits for an eternity, the particle will not join together and make a watch and, therefore, it transpires that behind the watch there is a designer who has put the right things in the right place to achieve alignment for the machine to work. He compares the universe to a similar phenomenon, which needs to have a designer to make such a scheme of things to work and argues that God is the designer, which is a tenable contention. Anselm argues that to understand God a human must first believe in Him and without belief understanding does not occur and one cannot hope to first understand God and then believe in Him. He asserts the Christian faith that God is a bei ng â€Å"than which none greater can be conceived† (Oppenheimer & Zalta 2) and, thus, he contends that since God represents perfection, this very notion implies the His existence. In Anselm’s view, belief is the means to understand God and not the end one pursues through understanding God. Thus, if one believes in God, one can feel the presence of God but one cannot aspire to feel the presence of God and then believe in Him. His philosophy emphasizes the ideals of Christian faith, which believes that there is no being greater than God.