Introduction

“Design” means more than just order of some sort. No matter how you arrange books on a shelf, they will have some order or other, and the great philosopher Leibniz (1646-1716) noted that some formula or other could always be found to fit points scattered on paper randomly. Leibniz further remarked that some kinds of order may be interesting because they have what he called “richness”; they combine obedience to fairly simple laws with results which are complex without being merely untidy; but giving a more complete account of what “Leibnizian richness” means is a very hard task. You tend to end up with a collection of words such as “beauty” and “grandeur”, which leaves you little the wiser. Luckily, there is no need for us to attempt the task. Instead, let us concentrate on the word “Design” as it appears in the name “The Argument from Design” or “The Design Argument for God’s Existence”.

Contributed by: Dr. John Leslie