Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity. Collected from the appearances of nature

Description:

Eighteenth edition (first published in 1802). This edition not recorded by Freeman. William Paley (1743-1805) was a theologian writer and moralist. Natural Theology is the most original and entertaining of Paley's works. The centrepiece of the work is the argument from design, introduced in the famous opening pages. He dismissed evolutionary theory as a conjecture lacking empirical evidence, a weakness in the evolutionist position which persisted down to Darwin's Origin of Species. The principal arguments of Paley’s book were countered by Bentham and George Grote in An Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion on the Temporal Happiness of Mankind (1822).

Condition

8vo, orig. publisher's paper covered boards, wear to extremities, a bit marked, joints starting in several places, but holding firm. Printed paper title piece to spine, browned and rubbed; edges uncut; light foxing to rear endpaper. A good copy of a scarce edition in the original publisher's boards.