View source for Joseph Butler

{{Short description|English Anglican bishop (1692–1752)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Reverend]]
| name = Joseph Butler
| title = [[Bishop of Durham]]
| image = Joseph Butler, Bp of Bristol.jpg
| image_size = 
| alt = A middle-aged white man seated and wearing Georgian-era English clerical robes.
| caption = Portrait of Butler by [[John Vanderbank]]
| diocese = [[Diocese of Durham|Durham]]
| term = 1750–1752
| predecessor = [[Edward Chandler (bishop)|Edward Chandler]]
| successor = [[Richard Trevor (bishop)|Richard Trevor]]
| other_post = [[Bishop of Bristol]] (1738–1750)<br />[[Dean of St Paul's]] (1740–1750)
<!---------- Orders ---------->| ordination = 26 October 1718 (deacon) <br /> 21 December 1718 (priest)
| ordained_by = [[William Talbot (bishop)|William Talbot]]
| consecration = 3 December 1738
<!---------- Personal details ---------->| birth_date = {{birth date|1692|5|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Wantage]], [[Berkshire]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1752|6|16|1692|5|18|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], [[Somerset]], Great Britain
| buried = 20 June 1752<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=4198|title=Butler, Joseph}}</ref> (O.S.) [[Bristol Cathedral]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Butler, Joseph | volume= 4 |last1= Adamson |first1= Robert |author1-link= Robert Adamson (philosopher) |last2= Grieve |first2= Alexander James |author2-link= Alexander James Grieve |pages = 882&ndash;885 |short=1}}</ref>
| nationality = English (later British)
| religion = [[Presbyterian]]<br>[[Anglicanism|Anglican]] (after 1714)
| residence = [[Rosewell House]], [[Kingsmead Square, Bath]] (at death)
| parents = Thomas Butler<ref name="ODNB" />
| spouse = <!--Unmarried-->
| profession = [[Theologian]], [[apologist]], [[philosopher]]
<!---------- Sainthood ---------->| feast_day = 16 June (commemoration)
{{Infobox philosopher
|embed = yes
|region = [[Western philosophy]]
|era = [[18th-century philosophy]]
|school_tradition = [[Empiricism]], [[Christian philosophy]]
|notable_ideas = Criticism of [[deism]]<br>Analogies of religion<br>Circularity objection to Locke's account of personal identity<ref name=ip/>
|main_interests = [[Theology]]
|education = [[Tewkesbury Academy]]<br>[[Oriel College, Oxford]]
}}
}}
'''Joseph Butler''' (18 May 1692 [[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]] – 16 June 1752 [[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]])<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fryde |first=E. B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TvcoAAAAYAAJ&q=joseph+butler |title=Handbook of British Chronology |date=1986 |publisher=Offices of the Royal Historical Society |isbn=978-0-86193-106-4 |language=en}}</ref> was an English [[Anglican bishop]], [[Christian theology|theologian]], [[apologist]], and [[philosopher]], born in [[Wantage]] in the English county of [[Berkshire]] (now in [[Oxfordshire]]). His principal works are the ''[[Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel]]'' (1726) and ''[[Analogy of Religion|The Analogy of Religion]]'' (1736). 

He is known for critiques of [[deism]], [[Thomas Hobbes]]'s [[Ethical egoism|egoism]], and [[John Locke]]'s theory of [[personal identity]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joseph Butler (1692–1752) |url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/butler/}}</ref> The many philosophers and religious thinkers Butler influenced included [[David Hume]], [[Thomas Reid]], [[Adam Smith]],<ref>White (2006), §8.</ref> [[Henry Sidgwick]],<ref>J. B. Schneewind, ''Sidgwick's Ethics and Victorian Moral Philosophy''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978, p. 47.</ref> [[John Henry Newman]],<ref>John Henry Cardinal Newman, ''Apologia Pro Vita Sua''. New York: Modern Library, 1950, p. 41. Originally published 1946.</ref> and [[C. D. Broad]],<ref>C. D. Broad, ''Five Types of Ethical Theory''. Paterson, NJ: Littlefield, Adams, and Co., 1959, p. 83. Originally published 1930.</ref> and is widely seen as "one of the pre-eminent English moralists."<ref>James C. Livingston, ''Modern Christian Thought''. New York: Macmillan, 1971, p. 47.</ref> He played a major, if underestimated role in developing 18th-century economic discourse, influencing political economist [[Josiah Tucker]].<ref>Peter Xavier Price, 'LIBERTY, POVERTY AND CHARITY IN THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF JOSIAH TUCKER AND JOSEPH BUTLER', ''Modern Intellectual History'' (2017), 1–30. doi:10.1017/S1479244317000518. [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-intellectual-history/article/liberty-poverty-and-charity-in-the-political-economy-of-josiah-tucker-and-joseph-butler/E3B56A0D455E3AD634E53901B95C3318#fndtn-information]</ref>

==Biography==
[[File:Butler (EarlOfLanesborough) Arms.svg|thumb|Arms of Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham: ''Argent, three covered cups in bend between two bendlets engrailed sable''<ref>As seen on his monument in Durham Cathedral (same arms as Butler, Earl of Lanesborough (Burke, Bernard, The General Armory of England, 1884, p. 153))</ref>]]

===Early life and education===
Butler was born on 18 May 1692.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tennant |first1=Bob |title=Conscience, Consciousness and Ethics in Joseph Butler's Philosophy and Ministry |date=2011 |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=978-1-84383-612-4 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xfL9qQDQFmEC&pg=PA21 |language=en}}</ref> The son of a [[Presbyterian]] linen draper, Butler was destined for the ministry of that church, and with the future archbishop [[Thomas Secker]], entered [[Samuel Jones (academy tutor)|Samuel Jones]]'s [[dissenting academy]] at Gloucester (later Tewkesbury) for the purpose. There he began a secret correspondence with the Anglican theologian and philosopher [[Samuel Clarke]]. In 1714, he decided to join the [[Church of England]] and entered [[Oriel College]], [[Oxford]], receiving a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in 1718 and named a [[Doctor of Civil Law]] on 8 December 1733.<ref name="ODNB"/>

===Church career===
Butler was ordained a deacon on 26 October 1718 by [[William Talbot (bishop)|William Talbot]], [[Bishop of Salisbury]], in his Bishop's Palace, Salisbury, his palace chapel<ref>{{CCEd |type=ordination |id=26955 |name=Butler, Joseph |accessed=5 September 2014 }}</ref> and a priest on 21 December 1718 by Talbot at [[St James's Church, Piccadilly]].<ref name="ODNB"/> After holding various other high positions, he became [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of the rich living of [[Stanhope, County Durham]].

In 1736 Butler became the [[Clerk of the Closet|head chaplain]] of [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]'s wife [[Caroline of Ansbach|Caroline]], on the advice of [[Lancelot Blackburne]]. He was nominated [[Bishop of Bristol]] on 19 October 1738 and consecrated a bishop on 3 December 1738 at [[Lambeth Palace]] chapel. Remaining Bishop of Bristol, Butler was installed [[Dean of St Paul's]] on 24 May 1740, keeping the office until his translation to Durham.<ref name="ODNB"/> He is said apocryphally to have declined an offer to become [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in 1747, but he served as [[Clerk of the Closet]] to the king in 1746–1752. He was translated to Durham by the [[Confirmation of bishops|confirmation]] of his [[Canonical election|election]] in October 1750; he was then enthroned by proxy on 9 November 1750.<ref name="ODNB"/> He is buried in Bristol Cathedral.

===Death and legacy===
Butler died in 1752 at [[Rosewell House]], [[Kingsmead Square, Bath|Kingsmead Square]] in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], [[Somerset]].<ref name="rosewell">{{Cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442757 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018002848/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442757 |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 October 2012 |title=Rosewell House |work=Images of England|publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2 September 2009}}</ref> His admirers have praised him as an excellent person and a diligent and conscientious churchman. Though indifferent to literature, he had some taste in the fine arts, especially architecture.

Joseph is [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|remembered]] in the [[Church of England]] with a [[Commemoration (observance)|commemoration]] on [[June 16|16 June]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar |access-date=2021-03-27 |website=The Church of England |language=en}}</ref> He had his own collection of manuscripts (e. g. [[Lectionary 189]]).

==Philosophy==
[[File:Memorial to Bishop Joseph Butler, Durham Cathedral.jpg|thumb|Memorial to Bishop Joseph Butler, [[Durham Cathedral]]]]

===Attack on deism===
During his lifetime and for many years after, Butler was best known for his ''[[Analogy of Religion|Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed]]'' (1736), which according to historian [[Will Durant]] "remained for a century the chief buttress of Christian argument against unbelief."<ref>Will and Ariel Durant, ''The Age of Voltaire''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965, p. 125.</ref> English deists such as [[John Toland]] and [[Matthew Tindal]] had argued that nature provides clear evidence of an intelligent designer and artificer, but they rejected orthodox Christianity due to the incredibility of miracles and the cruelties and contradictions recorded in the Bible.

Butler's ''Analogy'' was one of many book-length replies to the deists, and long believed to be the most effective. Butler argued that nature itself was full of mysteries and cruelties and so shared the same alleged defects as the Bible. Arguing on empiricist grounds that all knowledge of nature and human conduct is merely probable, Butler appealed to a series of patterns ("analogies") observable in nature and human affairs, which in his view make the chief teachings of Christianity likely.

Butler argued that "because nature is a mess of riddles, we cannot expect revelation to be any clearer".<ref>Livingston, ''Modern Christian Thought'', p. 51.</ref> Today, Butler's ''Analogy'' is "now largely of historical interest,"<ref>Stephen L. Darwall, "Introduction" to Joseph Butler, ''Five Sermons''. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983, p. 1.</ref> with the only part widely read being the section which deals with his criticism of John Locke's theory of personal identity.<ref name=ip/>

===Ethics and moral psychology===
{{Primary sources|date=July 2019}}
A Butler scholar, Stephen Darwall, wrote: "Probably no figure had a greater impact on nineteenth-century British moral philosophy than Butler."<ref>Darwall, "Introduction<" p. 3.</ref> Butler's chief target in the ''Sermons'' was [[Thomas Hobbes]] and the egoistic view of human nature he had defended in ''Leviathan'' (1651). Hobbes was a materialist who believed that science reveals a world in which all events are causally determined and in which all human choices flow unavoidably from whatever desire is most powerful in a person at a given time. Hobbes saw human beings as being violent, self-seeking, and power-hungry. Such a view left no place for genuine altruism, benevolence or concept of morality as traditionally conceived.<ref>Darwall, "Introduction," p. 1.</ref>

In the ''Sermons'', Butler argues that human motivation is less selfish and more complex than Hobbes claimed. He maintains that the human mind is an organised hierarchy of a number of different impulses and principles, many of which are not fundamentally selfish. The ground floor, so to speak, holds a wide variety of specific emotions, appetites and affections, such as hunger, anger, fear and sympathy. They, in properly organised minds, are controlled by two superior principles: self-love (a desire to maximise one's own long-term happiness) and benevolence (a desire to promote general happiness). The more general impulses are in turn subject to the highest practical authority in the human mind: moral conscience. Conscience, Butler claims, is an inborn sense of right and wrong, an inner light and monitor, received from God.<ref>Butler, ''Five Sermons'', p. 37.</ref> Conscience tells one to promote the general happiness and personal happiness. Experience informs that the two aims largely coincide in the present life. For many reasons, Butler argues, unethical and self-centred people who care nothing for the public good are not usually very happy.

There are, however, rare cases where the wicked seem for a time to prosper. A perfect harmony of virtue and self-interest, Butler claimed, is guaranteed only by a just God, who in the afterlife rewards and punishes people as they deserve.<ref>Butler, ''Five Sermons'', p. 45.</ref>

===Criticism of Locke===
{{Primary sources|date=July 2019}}
In Appendix 1 of the ''Analogy'', Butler offers a famous criticism of [[John Locke]]'s influential theory of "personal identity", an explanation of what makes someone the "same person" from one time to the next, despite all the physical and psychological changes experienced over that period. Locke claimed that personal identity is not from having the same body or the same soul but from having the same consciousness and memory. According to Locke, memory is the "glue" that ties the various stages of our life together and constitutes sameness of person. This section of the ''Analogy'' is the only widely read part of it today.<ref name=ip>{{cite web | url=https://iep.utm.edu/joseph-butler/ | title=Butler, Joseph &#124; Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy }}</ref>

More precisely, Locke claims, Person A is the same person as Person B only in a case where A and B share at least some of the same memories. Butler said that the way "real" memories can be distinguished from false ones is that people who had the experiences that are truly remembered. Thus, Butler claimed, memory presupposes personal identity and so cannot constitute it.<ref>Joseph Butler, ''The Analogy of Religion''. Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham, 1847. p. 324.</ref>

==Veneration==
Butler is honoured on the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA)]] on 16 June.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEq7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |date=2019-12-17 |publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64065-235-4 |language=en}}</ref>

==Styles and titles==
*1692–1718: Joseph Butler Esq.
*1718–1733: ''[[The Reverend]]'' Joseph Butler
*1733–1738: ''The Reverend'' Doctor Joseph Butler
*1738–1752: ''[[The Right Reverend]]'' Doctor Joseph Butler

==Publications==
*[https://archive.org/details/worksofjosephbut00butluoft ''Several letters to the Reverend Dr. Clarke''], 1716, 1719, 1725 – reprinted in Volume 1 of [[William Ewart Gladstone|Gladstone's]] edition of Butler's works 
*''[[Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel]]'', 1726, 1729, 1736, 1749, 1759, 1765, 1769, 1774, 1792
*[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53346 ''The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature''], 1736, [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53346] 1740, 1750, 1754, 1764, 1765, 1771, 1775, 1785, 1788, 1791, 1793, 1796, 1798
*''A sermon preached before the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts'', 1739
*''A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor'', 1740
*''A sermon preached before the House of Lords'', 1741, 1747
*''A sermon preached in the parish-church of Christ-Church'', London, 1745
*''A sermon, preached before His Grace Charles Duke of Richmond, Lenox, and Aubigny, president'', 1748, 1751
*[https://archive.org/details/butlerssixsermo00butlgoog ''Six sermons preached upon publick occasions''], 1749
*''A catalogue of the libraries [...]'', 1753
*[https://archive.org/details/worksofjosephbut02butluoft ''A charge delivered to the clergy at the primary visitation of the diocese of Durham''], 1751, 1786 – reprinted in Volume 2 of Gladstone's edition of Butler's works

==See also==
{{Portal|Saints}}
*[[Altruism (ethics)|Altruism]]
*[[Christian philosophy]]
*[[Deism]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature}}
*[[William Lucas Collins]], [https://archive.org/details/collinsonbutler00colluoft ''Butler''], Philosophical Classics for English Readers, Blackwood, 1881
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Butler, Joseph | volume= 4 |last1= Adamson |first1= Robert |author1-link= Robert Adamson (philosopher) |last2= Grieve |first2= Alexander James |author2-link= Alexander James Grieve |pages = 882&ndash;885 |short=1}}
*David E. White, "[http://www.iep.utm.edu/b/butler.htm Joseph Butler]," [[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]], J. Fieser & B. Dowden (eds.), 2006
*Aaron Garrett [http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/butler-moral/ ''Joseph Butler's Moral Philosophy''], [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]], 2012

==Further reading==
*[[Austin Duncan-Jones]] ''Butler's Moral Philosophy'', Penguin 1952
*Bernard Ramm, "Joseph Butler," ''Varieties of Christian Apologetics: An Introduction to the Christian Philosophy of Religion'', Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1962, pp.&nbsp;107–124
*James Rurak, "Butler's ''Analogy'': A Still Interesting Synthesis of Reason and Revelation," ''Anglican Theological Review'' 62 (October), 1980, pp.&nbsp;365–381
*Colin Brown, ''Miracles and the Critical Mind'', Paternoster, Exeter UK/William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1984
*William Lane Craig ''The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus During the Deist Controversy'', Texts and Studies in Religion, Vol. 23. Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, New York & Queenston, Ontario, 1985
*Penelhum, Terence, ''Butler'', New York: Routledge, 1985

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Butler, Joseph}}
*{{wikisource author-inline}}
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*[http://www.earlymoderntexts.com Contains Correspondence with Clarke, three episodes from Analogy of Religion, and five of the Fifteen Sermons, all lightly edited for easier reading]
*{{cite IEP |url-id=butler |title=Joseph Butler}}
*{{Gutenberg author |id=Butler,+Joseph |name=Joseph Butler}}
*{{Librivox author |id=11839}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Joseph Butler}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-rel|en}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Thomas Gooch]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Bristol]]|years=1738–1750}}
{{S-aft|after=[[John Conybeare]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Francis Hare (bishop)|Francis Hare]],<br />Bishop of Chichester}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Dean of St Paul's]]|years=1740–1750}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Thomas Secker]],<br />Bishop of Oxford}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Edward Chandler (bishop)|Edward Chandler]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Durham]]|years=1750–1752}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Richard Trevor (bishop)|Richard Trevor]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Bishops of Bristol}}
{{Deans of St Paul's}}
{{Bishops of Durham}}
{{Clerks of the Closet}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Joseph}}
[[Category:1692 births]]
[[Category:1752 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Wantage]]
[[Category:Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford]]
[[Category:18th-century Church of England bishops]]
[[Category:18th-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:18th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:18th-century English writers]]
[[Category:18th-century English philosophers]]
[[Category:Anglican philosophers]]
[[Category:English Anglican theologians]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]
[[Category:Bishops of Bristol]]
[[Category:Bishops of Durham]]
[[Category:Christian apologists]]
[[Category:Deans of St Paul's]]
[[Category:Clerks of the Closet]]
[[Category:English sermon writers]]
[[Category:Empiricists]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:British critics of atheism]]
[[Category:Critics of deism]]
[[Category:People from Stanhope, County Durham]]
[[Category:18th-century Anglican theologians]]