下载辰思小说免费APP
Itwould，Ithink，bedifficulttomentionamorevigorousdiscussionoftheproblemstated。Asanonymous，itcouldbeignoredinsteadofanswered；andprobablysuchorthodoxpersonsasreaditassumedittobeakindofreductioadabsurdumoftheUtilitariancreed。Itmightfollow，theycouldadmit，logicallyfromtheUtilitariananalysisofhumannature，butitcouldonlyprovethattheanalysiswasfundamentallywrong。Yetitsrealsignificanceispreciselyitsthoroughapplicabilitytothecontemporarystateofopinion。Beauchamp’sdefinitioncoincideswithPaley’s。Thecoincidencewasinevitable。UtilitariansbothinethicalandphilosophicalquestionsstartfromthesameassumptionsasPaley，andthePaleydoctrinegavethepithofthedominanttheology。
IhaveobservedthattheScottishphilosophershadabandonedtheaprioriargument，andlaidthewholestressoftheirtheologicaldoctrineuponPaley’sargumentfromfinalcauses。Thechangeofbasewasaninevitableconsequenceoftheirwholesystem。Theyappealedtoexperience，to’Baconian’
methods，andto’inductivepsychology。’Thetheoryof’intuitions，’effectivewhereitfellinwithadmittedbeliefs，wasidleagainstanatheist，whodeniedthathehadtheintuition。The’finalcauses’argument，however，resteduponcommonground，andsuppliedapossiblelineofdefence。TheexistenceoftheDeitycouldperhapsbeprovedempirically，liketheexistenceofthe’watchmaker。’Accordingly，thiswastheargumentuponwhichreliancewasreallyplacedbytheaveragetheologianofthetime。Metaphysicalorontologicalreasoninghadbeendiscardedforplaincommon-sense。ThefamousBridgewaterTreatisesarethecharacteristicproductoftheperiod。IthadoccurredtotheearlofBridgewater，whodiedin1829，that£；8000
fromhisestatemightbejudiciouslyspentinprovingtheexistenceofabenevolentcreator，thecounciloftheRoyalSocietyemployedeighteminentmenofsciencetocarryoutthisdesign。19Theywrotesomeinterestingmanualsofpopularscience，interspersedwithpropertheologicalapplications。
Theargumentsweresincereenough，thoughtheynowseemtooverlookwithsingularblindnesstheanswerwhichwouldbesuggestedbythe’evolutionist。’
Thelogicalresultis，inanycase，apurelyempiricaltheology。Thereligionwhichemergesisnotaphilosophyortheoryoftheworldingeneral，butcorrespondstoabeliefincertainmattersoffact(orfiction)，theexistenceoftheDeityistobeproved，liketheexistenceofCaesar，byspecialevidence。
Themainresultsareobvious。
Thelogicalbaseofthewholecreedis，naturaltheology，’and’naturaltheology’issimplyabranchofscience，amenabletotheordinaryscientifictests。Itisintendedtoprovetheexistenceofanagentessentialtotheworkingofthemachinery，asfromthemovementsofaplanetweinfertheexistenceofadisturbingplanet，theargumentfromdesign，inthisacceptation，isbrieflymentionedby’PhilipBeauchamp。’Itis，heargues，’completelyextra-experimental’；forexperienceonlyrevealsdesigninlivingbeings：
itsupposesapre-existingchaoswhichcanneverbeshowntohaveexisted，andthe’omnipotentwill’introducedtoexplainthefactsisreallynoexplanationatall，butacollectionofmeaninglesswords。20Theargumentisbrieflydismissedasconcerningthetruth，nottheutility，ofreligion，butonepointissufficientlyindicated。Theargumentfrom’design’isalwaysplausible，becauseitappliesreasoningundeniablyvalidwhenitisappliedwithinitspropersphere。Theinferencefromawatchtoawatchmakerisclearlyconclusive。Weknowsufficientlywhatismeantbythewatchmakerandby’making。’Wethereforereasontoaveracausa——anagentalreadyknown。WhentheinferenceistotheactionofaninconceivableBeingperforminganinconceivableoperationuponinconceivablematerials，itreallybecomesillusory，oramountstothesimpleassertionthatthephenomenonisinexplicable。Therefore
