A Bridgewater Treatise for the 21st Century

摘要

Why do certain features of nature, particularly the complex adaptations of the biological world, seem to call for explanations in terms of purposes? Why is it common to speak of biological objects using func- tional language, as though they were artifacts? Some have tried to turn such apparent design in- to an argument for the exis- tence of God. William Paley's watchmaker analogy is proba- bly the most famous example. Though attempts to rationally ground theistic belief are not particularly important for most religions, in some places and periods natural theology took on a special import. An early 19th-century expression of this religious argument is found in the Bridge-water Treatises, a series of books endowed by the Reverend Francis Henry, earl of Bridge-water. He set aside ￡8000 for the project, a sum that translates to about $650,000 today. The endowment funded selected scholars to show how the wise and benevolent design of God was revealed in the complexities of the natural world. Peter Roget, Secretary of the Royal Society, approached the topic through animal and vegetable physiology. William Whewell wrote on astronomy and physics. William Buckland found Genesis supported in geology. Others saw evidence of God in their own sciences.