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Philosophical Haiku

by Terence Green

Imagine a watch

Each part precisely designed.

Now gaze upon life!

William Paley by George Romney

Born in England, William Paley spent his childhood in the lovely surrounds of Giggleswick (honestly, that’s the name of the town). After a spell at Cambridge, he married and became a clergyman. He was very down-to-earth, and given to shocking the delicate sensibilities of posh visitors with his rustic observations. On one occasion, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, he observed in his broad Yorkshire accent, “I hate these nasty little chairs: they sink in the middle and throost one’s goots up into one’s braans .”

Paley became famous for his book Natural Theology (1802), in which he attempted to prove that God exists.…