The Argument from Design: A Guided Tour of William Paley's Natural Theology (1802)

Abstract

According to the classic "argument from design," observations of complex functionality in nature can be taken to imply the action of a supernatural designer, just as the purposeful construction of human artifacts reveals the hand of the artificer. The argument from design has been in use for millennia, but it is most commonly associated with the nineteenth century English theologian William Paley and his 1802 treatise Natural Theology, or Evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature. The book remains relevant more than 200 years after it was written, in large part because arguments very similar to Paley's underlie current challenges to the teaching of evolution (indeed, his name arises with considerable frequency in associated discussions). This paper provides an accessible overview of the arguments presented by Paley in Natural Theology and considers them both in their own terms and in the context of contemporary issues.