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Year 7 · Religious education · Religion, ethics and philosophy · Lesson 2

The design argument

The design argument for God: William Paley's watch analogy (1802), challenges from Darwin's natural selection and David Hume, religious responses including fine-tuning, and how to evaluate the argument.

Whiteboard video lesson: The design argument

18-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Explain the design argument
  • Describe Paley's watch analogy
  • Explain challenges from Darwin and Hume
  • Evaluate whether the argument works

The method

  1. Explain.
  2. Strengths.
  3. Criticisms.
  4. Judge.

Key words: design argument, Paley, analogy, evolution, Darwin, Hume, fine-tuning.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

What is the design argument?

  1. Step 1: Designer

Answer: the world shows design, so it must have a designer (God)

Question 2

Who used the watch analogy?

  1. Step 1: William...

Answer: William Paley

Question 3

In what year did Paley publish his argument?

  1. Step 1: Early 1800s

Answer: 1802