Citation Information for “William Paley,
‘The Teleological Argument’”
Philosophy of Religion
October 3 2025 00:14 EDT
Gallery of the Rotunda,
Library of Congress,
LC-D4-13499
Citation Information for
“William Paley,
‘The Teleological Argument’”
This page is not intended to be original or authoritative. The page is a summary of some main points and associated notes on the topic. Undoubtedly, there are scholarly and authoritative sources, both primary and secondary which ought be cited rather than these notes.
However if you find the page of use, your citation should meet the style requirements of the publication for which you are submitting your paper. In general, the current page may be cited in this manner:
Archie, Lee C, "William Paley, ‘The Teleological Argument,’" Philosophy of Religion (June 26, 2006) URL=<http://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/paley.shtml>.
“The Deity is known to us only by his productions, and is a single being in the universe,
not comprehended under any species or genus, from whose experienced attributes
or qualities, we can, by analogy, infer any attribute or quality in him. …
But farther attributes or farther degrees of the same attributes, we can never
be authorised to infer or suppose, by any rules of just reasoning. …
Every supposed addition to the works of nature makes an addition to the
attributes of the Author of nature; and consequently being entirely unsupported
by any reason or argument, can never be admitted but as mere conjecture
and hypothesis.”
David Hume, Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding
e. P. H. Niddich (Oxford: Clarendon Press), (I, Sec. XII, 113), 144-145.
Relay corrections or suggestions to philhelp@gmail
Read the disclaimer concerning this page.
1997-2025 Licensed under GFDL
and Creative
Commons 3.0
The “Copyleft” copyright assures the user the freedom
to use,
copy, redistribute, make modifications with the same terms.
Works for sale must link to a free copy.
The “Creative Commons” copyright assures the user the
freedom
to copy, distribute, display, and modify on the same terms.
Works for sale must link to a free copy.