Product Description

'The consciousness of knowing little, need not beget a distrust of that which he does not know.' In Natural Theology William Paley set out to prove the existence of God from the evidence of the beauty and order of the natural world. Famously beginning by comparing the world to a watch, whose design is self-evident, he goes on to provide examples from biology, anatomy, and astronomy in order to demonstrate the intricacy and ingenuity of design that could only come from a wise and benevolent deity. Paley's legalistic approach and skilful use of metaphor and analogy were hugely successful, and equally controversial. Charles Darwin, whose investigations led to very different conclusions in the Origin of Species, was greatly influenced by the book's cumulative structure and accessible style. This edition reprints the original text of 1802, and sets the book in the context of the theological, philosophical, and scientific debates of the nineteenth century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33253 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Church Times, 7 July 2006
'This is an astonishing book, made all the more acecssible by some excellent modern footnotes.'

Review
This is an astonishing book, made all the more accessible by some excellent modern footnotes (John Habgood, Church TImes )

About the Author
Matthew D. Eddy is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and the University of Durham and has recently held fellowships at the Dibner Institute (MIT), Harvard University, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin) and the University of Notre Dame's Erasmus Institute. He has just finished editing (with David M. Knight) Science and Beliefs: From Natural Philosophy to Natural Science, 1700-1900 (Ashgate,2005).

Customer Reviews

teleology at its best
No doubt some of the interest in Paley comes from the popularity of Dawkins and the growing movement for introducing "Creationism" or "Design" into science class. Paley's attempt to refute scientific argument based on its incompleteness is unfortunate but, nonetheless, this is a beautifully written book which shows some of the tensions and desperation in Paley's own argument.
To put it simply. If you are a creationist or an athiest or a was-there-something-before-the-big-bang or notist, this is the book that started the argument even before Darwin got there.
Like my parents say: it is easier to talk about lunch money in bus queues, but train journeys are good for real discussions. You can always look out the window.
Once again OUP have read a minor market perfectly by producing a finely edited copy of an important work.