Editing Argument from poor design (section)

{{Short description|Argument against assuming the existence of God}}
{{Atheism sidebar |arguments}}

The '''argument from poor design''', also known as the '''dysteleological argument''', is an argument against the assumption of the [[Existence of God|existence of]] a [[Creator deity|creator]] [[God]], based on the reasoning that any [[omnipotence|omnipotent]] and  [[omnibenevolence|omnibenevolent]] [[deity]] or deities would not create [[organism]]s with the perceived suboptimal designs that occur in nature.

The argument is structured as a basic ''[[modus ponens]]'': if "creation" contains many defects, then design appears an implausible theory for the origin of earthly existence.  Proponents most commonly use the argument in a weaker way, however:  not with the aim of disproving the existence of God, but rather as a ''[[reductio ad absurdum]]'' of the well-known [[teleological argument|argument from design]] (which suggests that [[biology|living things]] appear too well-designed to have originated by chance, and so an intelligent God or gods must have deliberately created them).

Although the phrase "argument from poor design" has seen little use, this type of argument has been advanced many times using words and phrases such as "poor design", "suboptimal design", "unintelligent design" or [[Dysteleology|"dysteleology/dysteleological"]]. The nineteenth-century biologist [[Ernst Haeckel]] applied the term "dysteleology" to the implications of organs so rudimentary as to be useless to the life of an organism.<ref name="haeckel">{{cite book |first= Ernst |last= Haeckel |author-link= Ernst Haeckel |year= 1892 |url= https://archive.org/details/historycreation01schmgoog |title= The History of Creation |publisher= D. Appleton |location= Appleton, New York |page= [https://archive.org/details/historycreation01schmgoog/page/n359 331]}}</ref>  In his 1868 book ''Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte'' (''The History of Creation''), Haeckel devoted most of a chapter to the argument, ending with the proposition (perhaps with tongue slightly in cheek) of "a theory of the ''unsuitability of parts'' in organisms, as a counter-hypothesis to the old popular doctrine of the ''suitability of parts''".<ref name="haeckel"/>  In 2005, Donald Wise of the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]] popularised the term "incompetent design" (a play on "[[intelligent design]]"), to describe aspects of nature seen as flawed in design.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wise |first=Donald |date=2005-07-22 |title="Intelligent" Design versus Evolution |journal=Science |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science|AAAS]] |volume=309 |issue=5734 |pages=556–557 |doi=10.1126/science.309.5734.556c |pmid=16040688|s2cid=5241402 }}</ref>

Traditional Christian theological responses generally posit that God constructed a perfect universe but that humanity's misuse of its [[free will]] to [[Fall of man|rebel against God]]<!--[?:], and the consequent damage from hostile spiritual forces,--> has resulted in the corruption of divine good design.<ref>Harry Hahne, [https://books.google.com/books?id=K-Ls4CUEWFAC&dq=Creation+fallen+due+to+sin&pg=PA211 ''The Corruption and Redemption of Creation: Nature in Romans 8, Volume 34'']</ref><ref>Gregory A. Boyd, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hj791_BeAF0C&dq=Creation+fallen+boyd&pg=PA206 ''God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict'']
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ed. Charles Taliaferro, Chad Meister, ''The Cambridge Companion to Christian Philosophical Theology'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=KJQyhzY4PucC&dq=augustine+privation+of+good+fallen+creation&pg=PA160 pages 160-161] - "Fundamental to the position is Augustine's view that the universe God created is good; everything in the universe is good and has good purpose [...]. [...] How did evil arise? It came about, he maintains, through free will. [...] some of God's free creatures turned their will from God, the supreme Good, to lesser goods. [...] It happened first with the angels and then [...] with humans. This is how moral evil entered the universe and this moral fall, or ''sin'', also brought with it tragic cosmic consequences, for it ushered in natural evil as well."
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