H. P. Grice's Converational Butlerianism

BUTLERIANUM IMPPLICATUM -- Butler, Joseph (1692–1752) English moral philosopher and natural theologian, born in Wantage, Berkshire. Butler was the Bishop of Bristol (1738–50) and Bishop of Durham (1750– 2). In his ethical work Fifteen Sermons (1726), he claimed that human nature is complex, containing many affections, including both the self-love and benevolence that Hobbes and Shaftsbury respectively took to be the foundation of morality. He held that the distinctive human faculty of reflection or conscience is superior to affections and is our guide to right conduct. In Analogy of Religion (1736), he defended revealed religion against the deists, holding that nature and revelation are complementary and that the revealed doctrines of Christianity can be confirmed through the study of nature.