Joseph Butler

1692 - 1752

photo credits: Wikimedia Commons

country of citizenship: Kingdom of Great Britain

languages spoken, written or signed: English

educated at: Oriel College

occupation: priest, philosopher, theologian, writer

position held: Bishop of Bristol, Dean of St Paul's, Bishop of Durham

Bibliographic databases:

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 the Dean of Gloucester and political economist Josiah Tucker. Source: Wikipedia (en)