Day 14 – the design-designer relationship
I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause. –DAVID HUME
Now take a stroll with me down the streets of a small town. In doing so, we have traded the glory of nature, seen yesterday, for the marvels of commerce. As we proceed down Main Street, we pause briefly at its various businesses and window-shop. In several of the stores we make purchases and by the end of the day carry home with us the following items: a pocket watch, a dollhouse, a bicycle, a radio, and some fudge-nut brownies. We place these items on display inside our home and notice they have two things in common: (1) each has a design; and (2) each has a designer. You and I may not have seen these designers in town today, but this in no way makes us doubt they exist. We know that somewhere there is a watchmaker, a dollhouse builder, a bicycle manufacturer, a radio constructor, and a sweet-toothed baker. Our intuition tells us these people exist. In fact, we would argue with anyone who entered our house and told us they did not. The presence of design in these purchased items screams to us that there has to be a designer behind each.
This commonsense principle can be stated thusly: evidence of design demands the existence of a designer. It is a principle I find easy to grasp. It has the ring of truth to it. We must keep it in mind tomorrow when we take our third trip together, this time a sunset walk along a beach.
Daily Quotation
"David Hume to John Stewart," February 1754, The Letters of David Hume (ed. J. Y. T. Greig; Oxford: Clarendon, 1932), 1.187.
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