William Paley

William Paley was an English clergyman and philosopher, educated and later a tutor at Christ's College, Cambridge. His Natural Theology opens with the watchmaker analogy: someone who finds a watch on a heath infers a designer from the fitting of its parts to a purpose, and the far more intricate contrivances of living things support the same inference to a divine designer. The book was widely read, and Darwin studied Paley closely before natural selection offered a rival explanation. Paley also wrote an influential textbook of theological utilitarian ethics.

Key ideas

• A watch's adaptation of parts to purpose shows that it had a designer.
• Living organisms show contrivance even greater than a watch, and so point to a divine designer.
• Imperfections in a mechanism do not undermine the inference to design.
• Right action is what promotes general happiness, as God wills.

Major works

• The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785)
• A View of the Evidences of Christianity (1794)
• Natural Theology (1802)

In the conversation

• Discussion A door-maker reads Hume’s Dialogues: the design argument from the workshop Hicham Ouazzani · 5 replies
• Debate Hume’s Dialogues had answered the watchmaker before Paley set it ticking Alistair Gow · 6 replies