In many ways William Paley was a highly conventional man, but it can be argued that his influence was far more radical, intellectually, than either he or his disciples were aware. The facts of his life were unremarkable enough. He was born in 1743, the son of a minor canon of Peterborough Cathedral and headmaster of Giggleswick Grammar School. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he later became a fellow and taught metaphysics and morals. After a number of minor clerical appointments, he became Archdeacon of Carlisle in 1782 in succession to his friend John Law, the son of the bishop. In 1785 he became chancellor of the Diocese as well. Later he became a prebendary of St Paul's and a sub-dean of Lincoln, but he held on to his archdeaconry until his death in 1805. It was as an author that Paley was best known. The work his contemporaries most admired was his Evidences of Christianity (1794), but arguably his most significant book was his Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy published in 1785.

Judgments of the significance of Paley depend very much on the position from which he is viewed and the context in which he is considered. A person who assumes that political theory should be a wholly secular pursuit will view him differently from one who believes it should have a theological content. Equally, Paley considered as one of the Utilitarians and compared to Bentham and Mill will appear very different from Paley considered as an Anglican cleric and compared to Horne and Watson.