Butler, Joseph, 1692–1752, English bishop and exponent of natural theology. Butler held a series of church offices, ending his career as bishop of Durham. His principle writings are Fifteen Sermons (1726), in which he set forth his moral philosophy, and The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature (1736), aimed at combating the influence of deism deists (dē`ĭsts), term commonly applied to those thinkers in the 17th and 18th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. in England. Both works became standard references in the education of Anglican and other clergy until the late 19th cent. In ethics, Butler was part of the 17th and 18th cent. attempt to find a foundation for morals without appeal to the divine will; he insisted on the complexity of human nature against one-sided accounts by Thomas Hobbes Hobbes, Thomas (hŏbz), 1588–1679, English philosopher, grad. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1608.
..... Click the link for more information. and Anthony Ashley Cooper (see Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3d earl of Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3d earl of, 1671–1713, English philosopher. The philosopher John Locke , adviser to the 1st earl, his grandfather, was in charge of Shaftesbury's education, which
..... Click the link for more information. ). In his natural theology he attempted to show that revealed religion was no less probable than the limited affirmations made of God by the deists.

Bibliography

See studies by E. C. Mossner (1936, repr. 1971), A. E. Duncan-Jones (1952), and P. A. Carlson (1964).

Butler, Joseph

(born May 18, 1692, Wantage, Berkshire, Eng.—died June 16, 1752, Bath, Somerset) British bishop and moral philosopher. He became dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1740 and bishop of Durham in 1750. His works defended revealed religion against the rationalist thinkers of his time. His The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature (1736) attacked the doctrine of Deism, according to which knowledge of God is acquired through reason rather than revelation. His Of the Nature of Virtue, appended to the Analogy, presented a refutation of hedonism and of the notion that self-interest is the ultimate principle of good conduct.