12 Facts About Joseph Butler

Joseph Butler is known for critiques of Deism, Thomas Hobbes's egoism, and John Locke's theory of personal identity.

In 1736 Joseph Butler became the head chaplain of George II's wife Caroline, on the advice of Lancelot Blackburne.

Joseph Butler died in 1752 at Rosewell House, Kingsmead Square in Bath, Somerset.

Joseph Butler's admirers have praised him as an excellent person and a diligent and conscientious churchman.

Joseph Butler's Analogy was one of many book-length replies to the deists, and long believed to be the most effective.

Joseph Butler argued that nature itself was full of mysteries and cruelties and so shared the same alleged defects as the Bible.

Joseph Butler argued that "because nature is a mess of riddles, we cannot expect revelation to be any clearer".

Today, Joseph Butler's Analogy is "now largely of historical interest," with the only part widely read being the section which deals with his criticism of John Locke's theory of personal identity.

Joseph Butler maintains that the human mind is an organized hierarchy of a number of different impulses and principles, many of which are not fundamentally selfish.

Conscience, Joseph Butler claims, is an inborn sense of right and wrong, an inner light and monitor, received from God.

For many reasons, Joseph Butler argues, unethical and self-centred people who care nothing for the public good are not usually very happy.

Joseph Butler said that the way "real" memories can be distinguished from false ones is that people who had the experiences that are truly remembered.