Bishop Butler's analogy of religion.

Abstract

The object of the " Analogy " is not to prove the.truth of Revealed Religion, but tw rnnfirm it. by showing that there is no greater difficulty in the way of believing the Religion of Revelation, than in believing the Religion of Nature ; and, consequently, that no one who does not reject Natural Religion can consistently reject Revelation on the score of insufficient proof. Its argument is, " If, in spite of all difficulties, you believe the one, you must, in common fairness, and to be consistent, believe the other. If they come from the same God, there is an a-priori probability that they will each have the same or similar difficulties; and if, in spite of all its acknowledged difficulties, you are firmly persuaded of the truth of Natural Religion, you are bound to accept Revealed Religion, in spite of an equal amount of possible or actual objections that may be summoned up against it."The principle asserted in the Analogy is not new : Origen himself has observed, that " He who believes Scripture to have proceeded from the Author of Nature may well expect to find the same sort of difficulties in the former as in the constitution of Nature." Bp. Butler carries out this principle by arguing that " He who denies the Scripture to be from God on account of these difficulties, may with equal justice deny that the world is the work of God ; and that if,»on the other hand, there is an Analogy between Natural and Revealed Religion, there is a strong presumption that they have the same author."Now it will at once be clear that in such reasonings as those contained in this work, we are not to expect demonstrative evidence. In this, as in the matters of every-day life, we must be content with prohable evidence; which differs from the former in that it admits of degrees *. It is by its very nature imperfect, * The essential distinction between Demonstrative and Probable evidence is one of matter; that of the former being certain, and that of the latter B

Memory and punishment

“…7 Bishop Butler was one of the first to argue that if one treated Locke's argument as a means of defining personal identity then it suffered from circularity. 8 If one defines personal identity as the ability to recollect or remember one's prior mental experience, one is already presupposing the notion of personal identity. Distinguishing my recollection of an experience such as hearing on the radio that President Kennedy has been assassinated, from my recollection of being told by someone that it had just been announced that President Kennedy has been assassinated, appears-Butler would have argued-to have already presupposed the notion of personal identity.…”

Bayesian Informal Logic and Fallacy

“…More specifically it will be on understanding arguments from a Bayesian perspective, rather than from the more common point of view, that the logic of arguments can best be understood as an application of the logic of mathematics, or formal logic. Although this is the less common perspective, it is not exactly new-dating from before the 18th century and Bishop Butler's pronouncement that "probability is the very guide to life" (Butler, 1736). Regardless of its heritage, and despite considerable activity in developing a Bayesian account of scientific method, the Bayesian perspective on good argument has yet to be articulated.…”

Robert Flint: Theologian, Philosopher of History and Historian of Philosophy

“…Butler's claim in his writings on natural religion 'That God has given us a moral nature, may most justly be urged as a proof of our being under His moral government' may even be said to have already involved an incipient philosophy of history, since he also believed that 'we are placed […] in the middle of a [progressive] scheme' that will 'be carried on much further towards perfection hereafter'. 77 Of course, Butler was not the only source in which Flint could have encountered the germ of this idea. As Obitts again points out, Reid had also put forward the argument that 'the evidence of "God's wisdom, power, and goodness in the constitution and government of the world"' grew stronger over time.…”