Single Idea 21281

[catalogued under 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / c. Teleological Proof critique]

Full Idea

Many worlds might have been botched and bungled, throughout an eternity, ere this system was struck out; many fruitless trials made, and a slow but continued improvement carried on during infinite ages in the art of world-making.

Gist of Idea

This excellent world may be the result of a huge sequence of trial-and-error

Source

David Hume (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion [1751], Part 5)

Book Reference

'The Existence of God', ed/tr. Hick,John [Macmillan 1964], p.106


A Reaction

Lee Smolin, a modern cosmographer, suggests that this evolution may have led to the current universe, after a long train of selective creations. The idea of natural selection was waiting to happen in 1760.