What is William Paley best known for?

William Paley is best known for his work in natural theology, particularly his teleological argument for the existence of God, as presented in *Natural Theology* (1802). His analogy of the watch and the watchmaker remains one of the most famous arguments in the philosophy of religion.

Where did William Paley study and teach?

Paley studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, and later taught at the University of Cambridge. His academic career was closely tied to this institution, where he contributed to both theological and philosophical education.

What are William Paley's major works?

Paley's major works include *Natural Theology* (1802), which presents his teleological argument, and *The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy* (1785), a key text in utilitarian ethics. These works were widely read and influential in their time.

How did William Paley influence philosophy and theology?

Paley's arguments for the existence of God based on natural design influenced both religious and philosophical thought. His utilitarian approach to ethics also contributed to the development of moral philosophy, particularly in British academic circles.

What was William Paley's role at the University of Cambridge?

Paley served as a university teacher at the University of Cambridge, where he taught and wrote on theology, philosophy, and ethics. His works were used as textbooks, shaping the education of generations of students.

William Paley

Christian apologist, natural theologian, utilitarian; (1743-1805)

Person Human Q433739

Facts

20 properties

Instance of: human
Sex or gender: male^[16]
Date of birth: July 14, 1743
Date of death: May 25, 1805
Place of birth: Peterborough
Place of death: Bishopwearmouth
Country of citizenship: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland^[9]
Occupation: philosopher, theologian, university teacher, writer
Employer: University of Cambridge^[11]
Field of work: natural theology^[10]
Educated at: Christ's College, Giggleswick School, University of Cambridge^[12]^[13]^[14]
Religion or worldview: Anglicanism^[15]
Languages spoken, written or signed: English^[25]
Academic degree: Doctor of Divinity^[17]
Depicted by: William Paley^[20]
Described by source: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, The Nuttall Encyclopædia, Library of the World's Best Literature, Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition^[21]^[22]^[23]^[24]
Family name: Paley^[18]
Given name: William^[19]
Name in native language: William Paley^[26]
Writing language: English

🏷️ Also known as

en William Paley en Archdeacon Paley ar ويليام بيلي cs William Payley fa ویلیام پالی fa ویلیام پیلی he ויליאם פיילי ko 윌리엄 패일리 ko 윌리엄 페일리 ru Пейли, Уильям ru Уильям Пейли uk Вільям Пейлі uk Пейлі Вільям zh 英國牧師威廉·佩利

🔖 Identifiers · 79

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VIAF cluster ID: 19975235
Library of Congress Authorities ID: n50051780
GND ID: 118789317
Archive Site Trinity College Cambridge ID: paley-william-1743-1805-theologian-and-moralist
BHL creator ID: 15278
BIBSYS ID: 90393405
BNB person ID (OBSOLETE): PaleyWilliam1743-1805
Bibliothèque nationale de France ID: 15099822d
British Museum person or institution ID: 150541
CERL Thesaurus ID: cnp02309664
CONOR.SI ID: 99713379

Show all 79 identifiers +67

CiNii Research ID: 1140563741830519424
DDB person (GND) ID: 118789317
Darwin Correspondence ID: 3647
De Agostini ID: Paley,+William
Deutsche Biographie (GND) ID: 118789317
Encyclopædia Britannica Online ID: biography/William-Paley
Entomologists of the World ID: 16606
FAST ID: 17549
Freebase ID: /m/08496
Geni profile ID: 6000000006817646209
Harper's tag: william-paley
Hrvatska enciklopedija ID: 46260
IdRef ID: 059177470
InPhO ID: thinker/3676
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy ID: paley
IxTheo authority ID: 061819395
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KBR person ID: 14034615
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Kallías ID: PE00314617
LBT person ID: WiPaley1805
Lex ID: William_Paley
Libraries Australia ID: 35406618
LibriVox author ID: 14776
Libris-URI: pm147n6738sxfs7
Museo Galileo authority ID: 42203
NACSIS-CAT author ID: DA05540548
NDL Authority ID: 00621249
NL CR AUT ID: mzk2009511521
NLA Trove people ID: 941571
NNDB people ID: 526/000096238
NUKAT ID: n2017004420
National Library of Israel ID (old): 000412233
National Library of Latvia ID: 000100749
National Library of Poland MMS ID: 9810557768705606
National Library of Spain SpMaBN ID: XX1082715
National Portrait Gallery (London) person ID: mp03425
Nationale Thesaurus voor Auteursnamen ID: 070878277
Obálky knih ID: mzk2009511521
Online Books Page author ID: Paley, William, 1743-1805
Open Library ID: OL646754A
OpenMLOL author ID: 11187
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ID: 21155
Oxford Reference overview ID: 20110803100302252
PUG authority ID: 60431
Parsifal cluster ID: 31445
Pontifical Urbaniana University ID: 141751
Pontificia Università della Santa Croce ID: 59695
Post-Reformation Digital Library author ID: 2064
Project Gutenberg author ID: 5683
Quora topic ID: William-Paley
Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae ID: RETE063786
SBN author ID: RAVV106577
SELIBR ID: 282577
SNAC ARK ID: w62v3d3h
SNARC ID: Belogorsk
The Literary Encyclopedia person ID: 3459
Treccani ID: william-paley
Treccani's Dizionario di Filosofia ID: william-paley
Treccani's Enciclopedia Italiana ID: william-paley
UK National Archives ID: F47038
Vatican Library ID (former scheme): ADV11015834
Vatican Library VcBA ID: 495/229803
Wellcome Collection concept ID: bp4eya9t
WikiTree person ID: Paley-176
WorldCat Entities ID: E39PBJg8yJ3K487YDYRmVByPQq
Yale LUX ID: person/15fa0dc5-3f0e-4090-a729-ccc4d58990f9

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🔗 Connections

Occupation 4

writer, philosopher, theologian, university teacher

Described by source 2

Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition, The Nuttall Encyclopædia

Educated at 2

University of Cambridge, Christ's College

Academic degree 1

Doctor of Divinity

Country of citizenship 1

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Employer 1

University of Cambridge

Field of work 1

natural theology

Given name 1

William

Instance of 1

human

Languages spoken, written or signed 1

English

Place of birth 1

Peterborough

Religion or worldview 1

Anglicanism

SNARC ID 1

Belogorsk

Sex or gender 1

male

Works by author 1

Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity

Writing language 1

English

← Director of photography 1

Surrender of General Toral

← Significant person 1

wild animal suffering

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Summary

William Paley was born on July 14, 1743^[1], in Peterborough^[2]. He died on May 25, 1805^[3], in Bishopwearmouth^[4]. He worked as a philosopher^[5], theologian^[6], university teacher^[7], and writer^[8].

Why It Matters

Works attributed to William Paley include Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity^[27], a literary work^[28].

FAQs

Where was William Paley born?

William Paley's place of birth was Peterborough^[2].

Where did William Paley die?

William Paley passed away in Bishopwearmouth^[4].

What did William Paley do for work?

William Paley worked as a philosopher^[5], theologian^[6], university teacher^[7], and writer^[8].

Where did William Paley go to school?

William Paley was educated at Christ's College^[12], Giggleswick School^[13], and University of Cambridge^[14].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

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APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). William Paley. Retrieved November 10, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/william-paley

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BibTeX

@misc{4ortxyz_william-paley_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{William Paley}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/william-paley}, note = {Accessed: 2026-11-10}}

LLM prompt

According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): William Paley — https://4ort.xyz/entity/william-paley (retrieved 2026-11-10)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

3d ago · Printstream · 2026-11-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗

"Changed the item: QuickStatements 3.0 batch #65768: add GND as source to unsourced or imported places and occupations"
10d ago · Bug002 · 2026-11-03 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae ID → RETE063786

"Changed the item: QuickStatements 3.0 batch #63657: RETEtoWD QS 03-11-2026 14:40"
12w ago · Susmuffin · 2026-08-20 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Harper's tag → william-paley

"Created claim: Harper's tag: william-paley, Matched to william paley (#289965293) in Harper's ta…"
17w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-07-11 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Pontifical Urbaniana University ID → 141751

"Created claim: Pontifical Urbaniana University ID: 141751, batch #260429"
25w ago · Quesotiotyo · 2026-05-20 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Darwin Correspondence ID → 3647

"Created claim: Darwin Correspondence ID: 3647, batch #258229"
26w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-05-15 view diff on Wikidata ↗

CERL Thesaurus ID → cnp02309664

"Removed claim: CERL Thesaurus ID: cnp01263589, batch #257929"
26w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-05-12 view diff on Wikidata ↗

CERL Thesaurus ID → cnp02309664

"Changed the item: QuickStatements 3.0 batch #30848: match CERL IDs on the basis of GND (5)"

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