Joseph Butler

A Preacher for Eighteenth-Century Commercial Society

Daisuke Arie, Masatake Okubo, Naoki Yajima (Herausgeber)

Buch | Hardcover

189 Seiten

2024 | 2024 ed.
Springer Verlag, Singapore
978-981-99-9902-6 (ISBN)

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This book is the first English-language monograph about Bishop Joseph Butler (1692–1752) by Japanese scholars. It is an especially interesting and controversial message coming as it does from Japan, a well-developed secular economic state where less than 1% of the population are Christians and opposing the recent trend of curtailing the eighteenth-century political economy into religiosity and theology.

This multidisciplinary edited book presents a different and new perspective from the recent work of Oslington et al., which seeks to reduce the political economy of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain to religiosity and theology, triggered by the writings of A. M. C. Waterman. Unlike those works, the present one aims to re-examine the largely forgotten Butler, who was said in the nineteenth century to be the most influential cleric and preacher in the Church of England of the previous century— not just as a clerical ideologue, but mainly as a proto-political economistbefore Adam Smith.

In order to achieve this goal, first, the authors clarify that Butler's theory of conscience and probability, which began with passion and selfishness, was created with the development of eighteenth-century commercial society in mind. Second, the manner in which Butler's discourse was directed not at anti-Anglicans or eminent intellectuals, but at the majority of ordinary secular society, is explored. How it was consistent with and defended their sentiments and economic behavior, not only in Analogy but mainly in Fifteen Sermons, is also investigated and explained. Finally, readers see that Butler's antirational grasp of humanity and empiricist epistemology, based on “probability” presented in these inquiries, can in fact be considered a pioneering expression of the methodological premises of modern economics.

Daisuke Arie, Professor Emeritus, Yokohama National University Masatake Okubo, Former Professor, Sugino Fashion College Naoki Yajima, Professor, International Christian University

Introduction.- A Compromising Preacher: Butler as a Proto-Political Economist.- Formation of Butler’s Moral Theology as a Foundation of Commercial Society.- Commercial Society and Religion: Butler, Paley and Priestley.- Butler’s Defence of the Authority of Conscience.- Theories of Resentment and Civilisation from Perspectives of Joseph Butler and Lord Kames.- Joseph Butler and Adam Smith on Conscience, Self-deceit and General Rules.- Butler and the Scottish Enlightenment: His Relationship with Adam Smith.- Self-love in Butler and Rousseau.- Science and Religion in British Philosophy: The Case of the Plurality of Worlds.- Butler and Ben Shira’s Apholism.

Erscheinungsdatum	26.03.2024
Zusatzinfo	1 Illustrations, black and white; XI, 189 p. 1 illus.
Verlagsort	Singapore
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
	Wirtschaft ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre ► Wirtschaftspolitik
Schlagworte	Commercial Society • Conscience • Joseph Butler • Psychological egoism • Scottish Enlightenment • Self-Interest
ISBN-10	981-99-9902-2 / 9819999022
ISBN-13	978-981-99-9902-6 / 9789819999026
Zustand	Neuware