Galen continued to hold his philosophical reputation in British culture long after his medical science had retreated into the background. This essay reconstructs his presence in British natural theology in the 17th and 18th centuries. Galen’s most authoritative text, De usu partium, was widely quoted by early modern authors for its systematic teleological treatment of the structure of the human body in opposition to atomistic and mechanistic theories. The two main concepts drawn from this work were the divine artificer of natural order and the immanence of intelligence in natural processes. They were adapted to Christian theology and used in a variety of ways by many authors, including Thomas Browne, Kenelm Digby, Walter Charleton, John Wilkins, Edward Stillingfleet, Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, Joseph Glanville, John Ray, Robert Boyle, William Derham, David Hume, and William Paley. This apologetic exploitation of Galen’s finalism was not the only aspect of his reception. Another image of Galen was portrayed by some of the aforementioned authors: that of a physician-philosopher who ran the risk of becoming an atheist because of his naturalistic attitude. My reconstruction shows how the various interpretations of Galen’s ideas and texts contributed to the discussions about natural order, and its supposedly divine origin, which characterised early modern British philosophy.
