page_title: Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity
section_title: Outline
hierarchical_section_title: Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity / Outline
caption_attribution_description: English: Rhyssa persuasoria
context_page_description: Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity is an 1802 work of Christian apologetics and philosophy of religion by the English clergyman William Paley. The book expounds his arguments from natural theology, making a teleological argument for the existence of God, notably beginning with the watchmaker analogy.
  The book was written in the context of the natural theology tradition. In earlier centuries, theologians such as John Ray and William Derham, as well as philosophers of classical times such as Cicero, argued for the existence and goodness of God from the general well-being of living things and the physical world.
  Paley's Natural Theology is an extended argument, constructed around a series of examples including finding a watch; comparing the eye to a telescope; and the existence of finely adapted mechanical structures in animals, such as joints which function like hinges or manmade ball and socket joints. Paley argues that these all lead to an intelligent Creator, and that a system is more than the sum of its parts.
context_section_description: Chapter I. State of the Argument
  The basic watchmaker analogy: if you find a watch, you suppose there's a watchmaker.
  Chapter II. State of the Argument continued
  Now the watch can reproduce itself. Paley argues that the watchmaker must have power, and specific intentions.
  Chapter III. Application of the Argument
  Paley says it is atheism not to agree with the watchmaker argument. He compares the eye to a telescope, and argues from the eye's construction.
  Chapter IV Of the Succession of Plants and Animals
  Paley argues from the properties of plant seeds and animal eggs.
  Chapter V. Application of the Argument continued
  The argument is extended to 'all the organized parts of the works of nature'. Paley considers whether chance alone could explain these, and concludes not.
  Chapter VI. The Argument cumulative
  No argument, writes Paley, other than 'the necessity of an intelligent Creator', can explain the eye (or any other elaborate living structure).
  Chapter VII. Of the Mechanical And Immechanical Parts and Functions of Animals and Vegetables
  Animals use muscles to move; even if we don't understand how they work, we can see they work mechanically, argues Paley, moving joints to and fro. Other organs such as the stomach work chemically to digest food.
  Chapter VIII. Of Mechanical Arrangement in the human Frame
  The bones and joints form a mechanical structure with features comparable to hinges, mortice and tenon and ball and socket joints, etc., to provide both support and suitable flexibility. He compares the spine to The Iron Bridge at Bishop Wearmouth.
  Chapter IX. Of the Muscles
  The muscles exactly relate to the joints, operating them mechanically like the wires and strings of a puppet. A complex case is the tongue. Sphincter muscles are admired also.
  Chapter X. Of the Vessels of Animal Bodies
  The blood vessels and lymph vessels are considered, the valves of the heart, and the separate functions of arteries and veins. Paley argues that such functions as that of the epiglottis could not have formed gradually (as by evolution).
  Chapter XI. Of the Animal Structure regarded as a Mass
  Paley considers the bilateral symmetry of animals, and how well-packaged all the delicate organs are, resulting in both beauty and utility.
  Chapter XII. Comparative Anatomy
  Paley considers the equivalents of human anatomy in other animals. Human clothing is compared to the fur, feathers, quills and scales of animals. The structure of the feather is admired. The teeth and jaws of carnivores, herbivores and omnivores are considered. Similarly, the adaptations of birds' bills in species like the crossbill, spoonbill and (long-billed) snipe are discussed.
  Chapter XIII. Peculiar Organizations
  Paley considers organs which seem to have no comparison, like the oil glands of birds and swim bladders of fishes.
  Chapter XIV. Prospective Contrivances
  Paley considers how some structures are seen to be prepared for future function, like the milk-teeth of a baby, ready formed inside the gums at birth. Similarly, the circulation of the foetus is supported by temporary short-circuits with the foramen ovale and the ductus arteriosus, as the lungs are not yet in use for breathing.
  Chapter XV. Relations
  Paley considers how the whole of a system is more than the sum of its parts. This is seen to be so both in a mechanical watch and in living systems.
  Chapter XVI. Compensation
  The 'defects' of one organ are remedied by the structure of another. The elephant has, Paley argues, a short neck because its head is so heavy, but in compensation it has a long trunk, enabling it to reach out. Similarly the spider has no wings to enable it to chase its flying prey, but has a web, and organs adapted to produce it, which compensates for the lack.
  Chapter XVII. The Relation of animated Bodies to inanimate Nature
  Organs such as the wings of birds and the fins of fish are expressly adapted to the surrounding 'elements' of air or water in which they operate.
  Chapter XVIII. Instincts
  Instincts enable newly hatched young of salmon to find food, and later to migrate to the sea and finally back
caption: Paley mentions the ovipositors of insects such as ichneumons, able to lay eggs deep in wood.
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