Argument from the Existence of Human Intelligence

This continues the series of weekly posts dealing with some basic theistic arguments. The purpose here is to introduce the reader to the idea behind each argument. Strengths and weaknesses will be presented after each summary. These are only summaries and springboards for further study in the theistic arguments. See Reason for the Hope Within for more.

An Argument from the Existence of Human Intelligence

While it is possible for complex effects to arise by accident, it is much more likely that an effect is the result of a suitably complex cause, and that specific organization in an effect depends upon at least an equal measure of organization in the cause. Human intelligence is a clear case of highly specific organization. Thus it is much more likely that the ultimate cause of human intelligence is itself at least as intelligent as the most intelligent human; and it is much less likely that the ultimate cause of human intelligence is the impersonal, unintelligent universe itself.

Greatest Strength: It is hard to believe that human intelligence is a cosmic accident; and experience tells us that organized effects result from organized (intelligent) causes.

Greatest Weakness: Many people think that Darwinian naturalism provides a mechanism for generating complex order without the need for a single, highly ordered cause.1

1 William C. Davis, Reason for the Hope Within (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing Co., 1999), p. 27.