This is a re-post of a post from a previous version of this site; it was originally published on 7 March 2005.

Last week I gave a guest lecture on Butler’s view of conscience. Here are the notes for it.

Joseph Butler (1692-1712)

Major Works:

• Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel (1726)
• The Analogy of religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature

Class Topic: Butler on Conscience

General Problem: Does the saying, “Virtue consists in a life lived according to nature” make any sense?

Secondary Problems: What is the relation between self-love and benevolence? Are human beings primarily selfish? What is the role of conscience in living the moral life? Are there limits to the moral authority of conscience? Is it in our interest to do good?

Butler’s Method

The study of morals has two possible starting points:

1. Inquiry starting from the “abstract relations of things” “the most direct formal proof” least liable to dispute
2. Inquiry starting from matters of fact about human nature “adapted to satisfy a fair mind” more easily applicable to real life

Both are important, and (ultimately) come to the same conclusions. Butler’s approach is to start with (2).

The Argument

1. Human nature consists of several distinct principles of action:
   • Self-love (interest in private good)
   • Benevolence (interest in public good)
   • Particular passions
   • Conscience ("reflex approbation")
2. These principles of human nature form a system. A system is a whole, made up of distinct parts in relation to each other, conducive to an end (or ends).
3. There are several possible meanings of “acting according to nature": To follow any of the above principles. To follow the strongest of these principles. To act in conformity with human nature taken as a whole (as a system). In the first and second sense, the saying is obviously false. But Butler argues that it is true in the third sense.
4. To act in conformity with human nature as a whole requires us to recognize the supreme authority of conscience. The functions of conscience:
   • It distinguishes internal principles from each other and recognizes external actions;
   • It passes judgment (approval, disapproval) upon the principles, the actions, and the person;
   • It definitively pronounces some actions to be just/right/good and other actions unjust/wrong/evil;
   • It “magisterially exerts itself” without being consulted;
   • If not stopped, it suggests “a higher and more effectual sentence that will second its judgment;

   It is conscience that makes us moral agents by giving us an authoritative moral law.

5. The authority of conscience is supreme, but the power of conscience is weak.

Butler’s conclusion: “Acting according to nature” means “acting according to the whole system of human nature insofar as it is organized by conscience.”