Watchmaker analogy
The watchmaker analogy is a teleological argument in support of the view that the universe , or parts of it, came into being through the operation of intelligent consciousness .
history
In his philosophical dialogue De natura deorum ( On the essence of the gods ; Book II, Chapter 87), Cicero (106–43 BC) lets a Stoic conclude from the systematic functioning of a sundial or water clock that it does not skip the hours Coincidence, but because of the inherent technology display; analogously, the world must have come into being based on planning and reason.
In Micrographia (1664), Robert Hooke compares the small organisms he studied with the microscope with the clockwork mechanisms (the construction of which he was also concerned with). His assessment is that constructions by human hands must pale next to the "omnipotence and perfection of the great creator".
In chapter 2 of his Traité de métaphysique (1734) Voltaire concludes from the growth and functioning of the human body that it must have been planned like a clock by an intelligent being. Voltaire does not consider any further conclusions to be drawn from this about the nature of this being, its eternity, infinity, etc., to be logically justified.
William Paley argues in his Natural Theology (1802) that a pocket watch found in the field can be recognized as an intelligently constructed object, and that consequently living organisms should also be regarded as the works of an intelligent designer.
The watchmaker analogy is used in a similar way by representatives of creationism and intelligent design today .
Criticism and counter-criticism
The analogy is mostly criticized by the fact that it presupposes prior knowledge about the formation of artifacts , which is not available in living organisms. A watch is recognized as man-made, since the observer already knows through education and imprinting that watches are artificially made. The recognition of order and complexity is not decisive for this.
Representatives of intelligent design (e.g. Rammerstorfer, pp. 93 ff.), On the other hand, object that prior knowledge about the development is not necessary, since the recognition of intelligently created structures is tied to certain patterns that would indicate intelligent intervention. The SETI program is given as an example . In the opinion of the ID representatives, empirical knowledge cannot be used here either; the search for signals is rather based on conspicuous patterns.
The astronomer Seth Shostak from the SETI Institute rejects this comparison as incorrect; complex patterns alone would not prove intelligence. Wesley R. Elsberry emphasizes that SETI would only detect signals that have certain characteristics of human communication, as determined on the basis of experience with human communication. Among other things z. B. the use of electromagnetic signals in the radio wavelength range and certain types of coding. SETI also does not explicitly claim to be able to prove unspecific intelligence. Only signals from intelligent beings that are sufficiently similar to human intelligence so that our experience with the latter also applies to these intelligent beings can be detected with SETI.
The British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins takes a critical look at the watchmaker analogy in his 1986 work The Blind Watchmaker . A German translation appeared in 1990 under the title The Blind Watchmaker . Dawkins explains how the theory of evolution plausibly explains the existence of living things without the need for a creator god . He explains the difference between a completely random process and a process with random mutations and subsequent selection . This is explained by a sample program (the Weasel Program ) and the computer program The Blind Watchmaker is also available, which simulates the process of natural selection.
literature
- Paley, William: Natural Theology , with an introduction by MD Eddy and DM Knight (Eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-280584-3
- Richard Dawkins : The Blind Watchmaker . Why the findings of the theory of evolution show that the universe was not created by design ("The blind watchmaker"). Dtv, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-423-34478-4 .
- Rammerstorfer, Markus: Just an illusion? , Tectum Verlag, 2006. ISBN 3-8288-9117-9
swell
- ↑ [1] Seth Shostak: Why SETI isn't like "intelligent design"
- ^ [2] Review by Wesley R. Elsberry on The Design Inference by William A Dembski
- ↑ Blind Watchmaker Java Program ( Memento from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )