Joseph Butler (May 18, 1692 - June 16, 1752) was an English bishop and philosopher. He was born in Wantage, Berkshire, England.
In 1736 he was made the head chaplain of King George II's wife Caroline. In 1738 he was made bishop of Bristol. He declined an offer to become the archbishop of Canterbury in 1747. He became Bishop of Durham in 1750.
He is most famous for his "Sermons on Human Nature" (1726) and "Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed" (1736). The "Sermons on Human Nature" is commonly studied as an answer to Hobbes' philosophy of ethical egoism.
Butler died in 1752 in Bath, Somerset.
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