Joseph Butler
Joseph Butler | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Durham | |
Portrait of Butler by John Vanderbank | |
| Diocese | Durham |
| In office | 1750–1752 |
| Predecessor | Edward Chandler |
| Successor | Richard Trevor |
| Other post(s) | Bishop of Bristol (1738–1750) Dean of St Paul's (1740–1750) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 26 October 1718 (deacon) 21 December 1718 (priest) by William Talbot |
| Consecration | 3 December 1738 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 May 1692 |
| Died | 16 June 1752 (aged 60) Bath, Somerset, Great Britain |
| Buried | 20 June 1752 (O.S.) Bristol Cathedral. |
| Nationality | English (later British) |
| Denomination | Presbyterian Anglican (after 1714) |
| Residence | Rosewell House, Kingsmead Square, Bath (at death) |
| Parents | Thomas Butler |
| Profession | Theologian, apologist, philosopher |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 16 June (commemoration) |
| Education | |
| Education | Tewkesbury Academy Oriel College, Oxford |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | 18th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Empiricism, Christian philosophy |
| Main interests | Theology |
| Notable ideas | Criticism of deism Analogies of religion Circularity objection to Locke's account of personal identity |
Joseph Butler (18 May 1692 O.S. – 16 June 1752 O.S.) was an English Anglican bishop, 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 The Analogy of Religion (1736).
He is known for critiques of Deism, Thomas Hobbes's egoism, and John Locke's theory of personal identity. The many philosophers and religious thinkers Butler influenced included David Hume, Thomas Reid, Adam Smith, Henry Sidgwick, John Henry Newman, and C. D. Broad, and is widely seen as "one of the pre-eminent English moralists." He played a major, if underestimated role in developing 18th-century economic discourse, influencing political economist Josiah Tucker.