‎PALEY (William)‎
‎Natural theology ; or, evidences of existence and attributes of the deity collected from the appearances of nature -- BON EXEMPLAIRE‎

‎London, Faulder and son, 1807, un volume in 8 relié en plein veau glacé, dos orné de fers dorés, filets dorés sur les plats, tranches jaspées (reliure de l'époque), 11pp., 595pp.‎

Reference : 8564

‎---- BON EXEMPLAIRE ---- "Paley's significance in the history of science is twofold. His writings on natural theology clearly reveal the changed framework of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as opposed to the late seventeenth century. The purely physical universe no longer could suffice to furnish proof for God's existence, but emphasis had turned to biological evidence to show the beneficence of the deity's workings... As an undergraduate at Cambridge, Charles Darwin read much of Paley's writings : "The logic of this book and of his Natural theology gave me as much delight as did Euclid. The careful study of these works, without attempting to learn any part by rote, was the only part of the academical course which, as I then feld and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the education of my mind... I was charmed and convinced by the long line of argumentation (Charles Darwin's autobiography)...". (DSB X pp. 277/280)**8564/A3‎