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Single Idea 21282
[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / c. Teleological Proof critique
]
Full Idea
How can you prove the unity of a Deity? A great number of men join in building a house or ship, in rearing a city; why may not several deities combine in contriving and framing a world?
Gist of Idea
Design cannot prove a unified Deity. Many men make a city, so why not many gods for a world?
Source
David Hume (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion [1751], Part 5)
Book Ref
'The Existence of God', ed/tr. Hick,John [Macmillan 1964], p.106
A Reaction
You might look at the Cistine Chapel ceiling and conclude that only a team could have achieve such a thing. Since there is no way to infer how many gods might be involved, then one god is a possible theory.
The
28 ideas
with the same theme
[denying that order and harmony prove God]:
1535
|
Democritus said people imagined gods as the source of what awed or frightened them
[Democritus, by Sext.Empiricus]
|
1555
|
People used to think anything helpful to life was a god, as the Egyptians think the Nile a god
[Prodicus]
|
5707
|
The universe can't have been created by gods, because it is too imperfect
[Lucretius]
|
2657
|
If everything with regular movement and order is divine, then recurrent illnesses must be divine
[Cicero]
|
2232
|
You can't infer the cause to be any greater than its effect
[Hume]
|
6960
|
Analogy suggests that God has a very great human mind
[Hume]
|
6958
|
How can we pronounce on a whole after a brief look at a very small part?
[Hume]
|
6965
|
The universe may be the result of trial-and-error
[Hume]
|
6964
|
From our limited view, we cannot tell if the universe is faulty
[Hume]
|
21279
|
If the divine cause is proportional to its effects, the effects are finite, so the Deity cannot be infinite
[Hume]
|
21280
|
From a ship you would judge its creator a genius, not a mere humble workman
[Hume]
|
21282
|
Design cannot prove a unified Deity. Many men make a city, so why not many gods for a world?
[Hume]
|
21281
|
This excellent world may be the result of a huge sequence of trial-and-error
[Hume]
|
21283
|
Humans renew their species sexually. If there are many gods, would they not do the same?
[Hume]
|
21284
|
This Creator god might be an infant or incompetent or senile
[Hume]
|
6963
|
Why would we infer an infinite creator from a finite creation?
[Hume]
|
6966
|
Creation is more like vegetation than human art, so it won't come from reason
[Hume]
|
6967
|
Order may come from an irrational source as well as a rational one
[Hume]
|
21286
|
Motion often begins in matter, with no sign of a controlling agent
[Hume]
|
21287
|
The universe could settle into superficial order, without a designer
[Hume]
|
21288
|
Ideas arise from objects, not vice versa; ideas only influence matter if they are linked
[Hume]
|
21256
|
A surprise feature of all products of 9 looks like design, but is actually a necessity
[Hume]
|
6204
|
Using God to explain nature is referring to something inconceivable to explain what is in front of you
[Kant]
|
6206
|
From our limited knowledge we can infer great virtues in God, but not ultimate ones
[Kant]
|
21332
|
We don't get a love of 'order' from nature - which is thoroughly chaotic
[Mill]
|
18977
|
The wonderful design of a woodpecker looks diabolical to its victims
[James]
|
18979
|
Things with parts always have some structure, so they always appear to be designed
[James]
|
20708
|
If God is an orderly being, he cannot be the explanation of order
[Davies,B]
|