The view that shapes this project is Butler’s conviction that conscience offers a genuine standard within the self, while self-deception allows us to drift away from that standard without ever having to admit that we’ve done so (“Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel by Joseph Butler”; Kawall). This idea allows Butler to describe humans in a way that is both structured and dark, making his work equally enjoyable for philosophers and ordinary people (“Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel by Joseph Butler”).
In the Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel, Butler offers a picture of human nature with several levels (Butler, Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel). At the base are particular passions, such as hunger, fear, vanity, resentment, all of which pull us in different directions (Kawall). Above these stand two more general tendencies. One being self-love and the other, being benevolence. At the highest level is conscience, a reflective capacity that surveys other motives and judges actions as either right or wrong. Butler says conscience carries a special authority and is naturally fitted to govern the rest of our nature.
A key part of Butler’s view is his rejection of the idea that human beings are solely driven by personal gain. He argues that self-love and benevolence are independent of one another, implying that we can genuinely care about others while simultaneously caring about ourselves (Kawall). As a result, a properly developed person could find that caring for themselves and caring for others are in fact, not at odds at all (Kawall). Given this, Butler is neither a simple egoist nor a sentimental optimist. Instead, he thinks our nature as mixed and ordered, with conscience ruling at the top.
Butler’s method is to appeal to experience rather than building a purely abstract theory. In early sermons, he invites his listeners to identify the pull of conscience against passion or interest, and to note that this feeling is not just a mere desire but one that carries a clear sense of duty and moral responsibility (Butler, Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel). Butler notes that as humans, we blame ourselves when we go against this sense, and yet praise ourselves when we follow it, even at a cost, which suggests that we as humans already recognize conscience as a superior element of our nature (“Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel by Joseph Butler”). Butler then points out that the casual attitude of regarding character presupposes this hierarchy. As humans, we judge a person who shuts out conscience as not just morally bad but also somehow in lies with himself, as though he conflicted with his own superior nature.
Butler is aware that humans often act against conscience, which leads him to explain how the intended harmony of our nature can be disrupted. His answer? Self-deception. In a group of later sermons, he gives a detailed account of how we flatter ourselves, avoid painful reflections, and use selective reasoning to justify whatever it is we have done. (Butler, Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel). Butler notes that human beings are remarkably good at finding convenient excuses for justifying what they have already decided to do, and that over time, habit dulls the sense of guilt so that actions that once seemed shocking now begin to feel normal (“Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel by Joseph Butler”). The Stanford Encyclopedia entry emphasizes that Butler treats this self-deception as a pervasive and insidious feature of moral life rather than a rare defect (Kawall). For him, our main moral danger is not openly choosing evil in complete clarity, but slowly blinding ourselves until our conscience is so muffled that we can hardly hear it.
Butler’s view is essential for moral philosophy because it offers a rich middle position between two influential traditions. One standing against egoistic theories, associated with figures like Hobbes that explain all action in terms of self-interest; the other, standing with more optimistic accounts that treat sympathy or benevolence as automatically reliable (Kawall). Butler refuses both. By distinguishing particular passions, self-love and benevolence, and by giving conscience a superior role of oversight, he argues that human motivation is more complex than any one motive can capture (“Butler, Joseph”). This allows him to explain how people can be genuinely generous without ceasing to care about themselves, while simultaneously becoming corrupt without consciously endorsing evil.
His analysis of self-deception is also philosophically significant. It raises questions about moral responsibility, since people who have fooled themselves may still sincerely believe they are in the right. Yet, Butler wants to say they are blameworthy for allowing that blindness to grow in the first place (Kawall). It also connects to epistemology, the study of knowledge, because Butler suggests that our ability to know ourselves is limited not only by ignorance but by active bias and partiality (“Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel by Joseph Butler”). Later thinkers who talk about ideology, bias, or bad faith can be seen as developing themes that Butler already traces within the religious and moral framework of his time (Kawall).
Butler’s view connects directly to central philosophical concepts such as moral agency, virtue, and practical reason. To be a moral agent on his account is to live under the rule of conscience, bringing one’s desires and long-term goals into harmony with that inner principle of judgment (Kawall). For Butler, virtue is not a matter of feeling kind or generous but rather keeping a clear, truthful view of your own behavior while preventing self-serving stories from muddying your conscience. (“Butler, Joseph”).
In daily life, Butler’s insights are easy to recognize. Humans routinely justify questionable and immoral actions by telling themselves that “everyone does it”, “that the victim deserved it”, or that they “had no real choice”. His claim that conscience and self-deception are central to moral life suggests that ethical improvement is not just about learning rules but also about cultivating honest self-reflection and the ability to resist temptations that drag us from our own intrinsic desires, regardless of whom they serve (“Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel by Joseph Butler”). For a modern reader, this realistic yet serious view of human psychology makes Butler a helpful guide when questioning self-knowledge and natural living (Kawall).
Works Cited
“Butler, Joseph.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/joseph-butler. Accessed 1 Dec. 2025.
Butler, Joseph. Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel. Christian Classics Ethereal Library, www.ccel.org/ccel/butler/sermons. Accessed 1 Dec. 2025.
“Fifteen Sermons Preached at the Rolls Chapel by Joseph Butler.” Research Starters: Literature and Writing, EBSCOhost. Accessed 1 Dec. 2025.
Kawall, Jason. “Joseph Butler’s Moral Philosophy.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Fall 2020 edition, plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/butler-moral. Accessed 1 Dec. 2025.