Joseph Butler is sometimes referred to as "the philosopher of Anglicanism" and these three words encapsulate his response to the deists of his time: analogy, probability, and cumulative T/F

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Charlee Middleton

6 November, 05:02

Joseph Butler is sometimes referred to as "the philosopher of Anglicanism" and these three words encapsulate his response to the deists of his time: analogy, probability, and cumulative T/F

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Matthias Moore · Answer 1

It is TRUE that Joseph Butler is sometimes referred to as "the philosopher of Anglicanism" and these three words encapsulate his response to the deists of his time: analogy, probability, and cumulative.

Explanation:

Joseph Butler was an English bishop, theologian, apologist, and philosopher. He was born in Wantage in the English county of Berkshire on the 18th of may 1692 and died on the 16th June 1752. He is known, among other things, for his critique of Deism, Thomas Hobbes's egoism, and John Locke's theory of personal identity.

During his lifetime and for many years after his death, Butler was most famous for his Analogy of Religion, according to historian Will Durant, remained for a century the chief buttress of Christian argument against unbelief. English deists such as John Toland and Matthew Tindal had argued that nature provides clear evidence of an intelligent designer and artificer, but they rejected orthodox Christianity because of the incredibility of miracles and the cruelties and contradictions contained in the Bible.

Butler's Analogy was one of many book-length replies to the deists, and it was long widely believed to be the most effective. Butler argued that nature itself was full of mysteries and cruelties, and thus shared the same alleged defects as the Bible. Arguing on empiricist grounds that all knowledge of nature and human conduct is merely probable, Butler then appealed to a series of patterns ("analogies") observable in nature and human affairs, which, in his judgment, make the chief teachings of Christianity likely true.

Butler's argumentative strategy was unusual and risky. Arguing that "because nature is a mess of riddles, we cannot expect revelation to be any clearer" obviously invited the retort that then both deism and Christianity were irrational. Today, Butler's Analogy is "now largely of historical interest," but his claim that probability is the guide to life would be endorsed by many contemporary philosophers.