William Paley

1743-1805 · English · Natural theology, moral and political philosophy, Christian apologetics

There cannot be design without a designer; contrivance without a contriver.

He was an archdeacon of Carlisle who wrote the three books every Cambridge undergraduate had to know for the better part of a century, and he wrote them in prose so lucid that his opponents complained it made bad arguments look obvious. He was not an original thinker and never claimed to be. What he had was an extraordinary gift for the decisive illustration — the watch found on the heath, the eye compared to a telescope, the pigeons dividing the heap of corn — and a willingness to state a case so plainly that it could be attacked.

Topics William Paley addresses

• the watchmaker analogy
• the argument from design
• contrivance and adaptation
• the eye and the telescope
• natural theology
• the argument from testimony
• the credibility of miracles
• theological utilitarianism
• the will of God as collected from expediency
• general consequences
• the doctrine of expediency
• virtue as doing good to mankind for the sake of everlasting happiness
• civil obligation and the collapse of the social contract
• the pigeons parable
• the happiness of animals
• the benevolence of the deity
• the imperfections objection
• Horae Paulinae and undesigned coincidences
• the evidences of Christianity
• the willingness of the apostles to suffer
• the state of the poor
• population and subsistence

Questions to put to William Paley

The Watchmaker and the Argument from Design

• What makes the watch different from the stone on the heath?
• How does the eye compare to a telescope as evidence of design?
• Does the argument fail if we've never seen God making anything?
• What do you say to the objection that organisms sometimes go wrong or have useless parts?
• How is natural selection not a sufficient explanation for adaptation without a designer?

Theological Utilitarianism and the Will of God

• What do you mean by virtue as doing good to mankind for the sake of everlasting happiness?
• How do you figure out what God's will is on a disputed moral question?
• Why judge actions by the general consequences of the rule rather than the particular case?
• Doesn't appealing to everlasting happiness make morality just self-interest?
• What's the difference between your view and Bentham's utilitarianism?

The Evidences of Christianity

• How does the apostles' willingness to suffer prove Christianity is true?
• What's your answer to Hume's argument that we should never believe miracle reports?
• What are the undesigned coincidences between Paul's letters and Acts?
• Why does the character of the witnesses matter more than the improbability of miracles?
• Can testimony ever be strong enough to establish something that violates natural law?

Civil Obligation and the Social Contract

• What's the parable of the pigeons and what does it show about government?
• Why don't we need a historical social contract to explain political obligation?
• How does the will of God ground our duty to obey the government?
• What makes public expediency the right test for when a government deserves obedience?

The Condition of the Poor and Inequality

• What advantages do the labouring poor have that compensate for their hardships?
• How do you justify the inequality of property on utilitarian grounds?
• What's your argument in Reasons for Contentment that the poor should be satisfied?
• Why is the general consequence of property inequality better than redistribution?
• How do you answer the charge that you're just defending the interests of the rich?

Converse with William Paley on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in William Paley's own writing, cited to the page.