| 释义 |
Paleyan, n. and a. Theol.|ˈpeɪlɪən|
Also 9 Paleian, Paleyian.
[f. the name of William Paley (1743–1805), English theologian + -an.]
A. n. A follower of Paley or supporter of his theories, esp. of his rationalist, proto-utilitarian, moral philosophy and his view of God as the supreme ‘watchmaker’ of a universe governed by mechanistic natural laws.
1818S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) IV. 901 For myself, I cannot agree wholly either with Sir S. Romilly on the one side, or with the Paleyians on the other. 1855W. Bagehot in National Rev. I. 284 Let us keep no terms with Paleyans in speculation.
B. adj. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Paley or his theology.
1825S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. 23 May (1971) V. 465 The cheerlessness, vulgarity and common-place character of the mechanical philosophy, and Paleyian Expedience. 1862A. J. Munby Diary 16 Aug. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 135 From lips like hers, the Paleian philosophy sounds creditable. 1915G. B. Shaw in New Statesman 8 May 109/2 Darwin's deathblow to the old Paleyan assumption that any organ perfectly adapted to its function must be the work of a designer. 1951N. Annan Leslie Stephen iii. 111 So far from being a Paleyan Deity who proves His existence to men by the ingenious mechanism of Nature, the Evangelical God is a God of miracles. 1976C. E. Russett Darwin in Amer. ii. 38 The notion of a higher order beyond the reach of natural selection was as open to Hume's critique as was the Paleyan form of natural theology. |