William Paley Quotes on God
William Paley, the English clergyman and philosopher, gave the argument from design its most famous statement, and the quotes gathered here present it. Paley's celebrated analogy holds that just as finding a watch upon the ground makes the inference of a maker irresistible, the intricate contrivances of the natural world point to a divine designer, since contrivance proves design and design proves a designer. He held that this designer is benevolent, arguing that God, when he created the human species, wished their happiness and made provision accordingly. Paley joined this natural theology to a utilitarian ethics in which the will of God is known from expediency, from what conduces to human happiness. Drawn from Natural Theology and his Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, these passages present God as the designer of a purposeful, benevolently ordered world; the most condensed formulations are marked as attributed.
Quotes
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Attributed to William Paley:
“Suppose I had found a watch upon the ground; the inference is irresistible that it had a maker.”
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Attributed to William Paley:
“Contrivance proves design, and design proves a designer.”
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Attributed to William Paley:
“The will of God is the rule of right action.”
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Attributed to William Paley:
“Virtue is doing good to mankind, in obedience to the will of God, for the sake of everlasting happiness.”
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“God, when he created the human species, wished their happiness; and made for them the provision which he has made, with that view, and for that purpose.”
Vol. I, Book II, Ch. V. -
“Wherefore rejecting the intervention of a compact , as unfounded in its principle, and dangerous in the application, we assign for the only ground of the subjects' obligation, THE WILL OF GOD AS COLLECTED FROM EXPEDIENCY.”
The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy(1785) | Vol. II, Book VI, Ch. III.