William Paley
William Paley (* July 14, 1743 in Peterborough, Northamptonshire, † May 25, 1805 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire ) was an English theologian and philosopher.
- 3.1 original editions
- 3.2 German translations
- 3.3 Current Issues
- 4.1 Literature
- 4.2 Notes and references
Life
William Paley was first taught by his father of the same name, the teacher at the Grammar School Giggleswick was. On November 16, 1758 he was admitted as a " Sizar " at Christ 's College, Cambridge. As in his class ( "Senior Wrangler " ), he graduated in January 1763 Bachelor of Arts and moved for a short time at the Academy in Greenwich. On June 24, 1766 Paley was elected at the age of 23 years "Fellow " of Christ's College and returned to Cambridge. He put his degree as Master of Arts, gave private lessons and was ordained by the Bishop of London Richard Terrick (1710-1777) a priest on December 21, 1767. From 1768 Paley taught at Christ 's College. He lectured on Samuel Clarke, Joseph Butler and John Locke and Moral Philosophy.
1776 Paley became rector in Musgrave in the county of Cumbria in 1782 and archdeacon in Carlisle. On the advice of his friend John Law (1745-1810), he published in 1785 a revised and expanded version of his lectures under the title The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. 1794 was followed by A View of the Evidence of Christianity, that counted to the 20th century at the University of Cambridge compulsory reading.
Work
Natural theology
In his 1802 published book Natural Theology, Paley argued on the basis of the watchmaker analogy for the workings of a Creator in nature. If one were to find a stone, so one could suspect that he had been lying there forever. If one but find a clock, one would hardly expect this. From the expediency with which the individual parts of the clock are joined together, would conclude that the clock had an intelligent Creator, the watchmaker had. Consequently, should a living organism that interact its body parts as useful as the parts of the clock, have an intelligent creator, the Paley also called designer.
Paley's argument is an example of an attempt of a teleological proof of God by means of specified complexity.
Influence and further discussion
Paley's Natural Theology presented the universal Adapted awareness of living beings at the center of his proof of a creator and a self immutable creation. The static Adaptionismus Paley seems paradoxically to have just had an impact on the evolutionary Adaptionismus of Charles Darwin, who was to undermine through his theory of natural selection, the British natural theology.
Today, the emergence of complex - organized systems such as the human eye or the brain in the biological sciences is generally explained by the theory of evolution. Among other things, Paley's comparison was taken as apparent result of a well-planned design by Richard Dawkins in the title of his book The Blind Watchmaker directly, but evolutionary theory explained by the action of mutation and selection, without the need for a creator God would be necessary.
Works (selection)
Original editions
- The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. 1785 online
- Horae Paulinae: or the truth of the Scripture history of St. Paul evinced by a comparison of the epistles, Which bear his name, with the acts of the apostles and with one another. 1790
- A View of the Evidences of Christianity. 1794 online full text
- Natural Theology, or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected From the Appearances of Nature. 1802 online
German translations
- Principles of morality and politics. Translated by Christian Garve, Weidmann's heirs and Reich, Leipzig, 1787; Band 1, Band 2
- Overview and examination of the evidence and testimony for Christianity. Translated by Johann August Nosselt, Weigand, 1797-2 volumes
- Natural theology. Translated by Hermann Hauff, published by JG Cotta bookstore, Stuttgart and Tübingen 1837; online
Current Issues
- William Paley: Natural Theology, with an introduction by MD Eddy and DM Knight ( ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280584-3, 2005.