Jay Richards Talks Paley, Hume, and Natural Theology
In this classic ID The Future, CSC’s Logan Gage interviews philosopher Jay Richards about William Paley, David Hume, and contemporary arguments for intelligent design. Richards begins with a description of William Paley’s 1802 book Natural Theology, in which the author infers from the natural world that there must be some intelligent agent (God) responsible for its design. This includes Paley’s famous watch analogy, which Richards also summarizes. Richards then addresses David Hume’s critique of analogical arguments like those used by Paley. Richards closes by differentiating between analogical arguments and arguments for intelligent design.