What is the clockmaker theory or the watchmaker theory?

Answer 1

The watchmaker theory was developed by William Paley in 1802. The theory advocates, through inteligent design, for creationism as opposed to evolution. The theory takes the example of a watch, and concludes that the sheer technology and sophistication required to design a watch requires a designer in the form of a supernatural being; not an ordinary human being. The world, ergo, was form by a God and humans have been the beneficiary of His formations and designs - ultimately humans are too immature to design such a detailed object and requiire the assistance of a God. Evolution, averses this theory in the name of science. Through science and Darwin's natural selection, the human race - not to mention all other beings in the animal kingdom - has evolved by adapting to the environment and maturing over tens of thousands of years. The watchmaker analogy cab de drawn upon here by looking at the evolution of watches. Scientists would contend: the increasing sophistication in watches in not disimilar to that of human beings and animals. In a factual respect, the watchmaker theory is scientifically flawed and inaccurate. However, for crerationists it is an analogy that provides some reason for their beliefs.

Answer 2

the watchmaker theory is a strong part of the enlightenment era in 18th century Europe. enlightenment philosophes (not philospheRs) believed that the creation of human beings could be compared to the creation of a watch. if all the tiny and intricate pieces of a watch were scattered around randomly, they could not just simply come together into a complex functioning watch on their own. thus, the philosophes used the watchmaker theory to argue that humans are so complex, a higher being must have put them together as we could not have just come together at random.