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Probability
Religion

In support of the argument to design, people often remark that the order seen in nature is "improbable" and so requires a special explanation--i.e., a designer. But if order is seen throughout nature, in what sense is it improbable?
Accepted:
September 11, 2008

Comments

Oliver Leaman
September 11, 2008 (changed September 11, 2008) Permalink

The improbability is taken to be that it came about through chance, or without someone intending it to be like that. The example is often giving of someone walking on a beach and finding a watch, never having seen one before. When she looks at it, she will not know what it is or what it does, but she is entitled to conclude that it could not have come about through chance, since it is so complex and organized. Whether that is a good argument is much debated, of course, but that is where the improbability is taken to lie.

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