Joseph Butler: Fifteen Sermons and other writings on ethics

David McNaughton is Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University and Professor Emeritus at Keele University. He is the founder and first President of the British Society for Ethical Theory. He is the author of Moral Vision (1988) and, with Eve Garrard, Forgiveness (2010), and of a number of papers on ethics, philosophy of religion, and the relations between the two. He is currently writing a book with Piers Rawling on their approach to practical reasons, and editing Butler's Analogy of Religion for OUP.

• Sermon 1 Upon Human NatureSermon 2 Upon Human NatureSermon 3 Upon Human NatureSermon 4 Upon the Government of the TongueSermon 5 Upon CompassionSermon 6 Upon CompassionSermon 7 Upon the Character of BalaamSermon 8 Upon ResentmentSermon 9 Upon the Forgiveness of InjuriesSermon 10 Upon Self-DeceitSermon 11 Upon the Love of our NeighbourSermon 12 Upon the Love of our NeighbourSermon 13 Upon the Love of GodSermon 14 Upon the Love of GodSermon 15 Upon the Ignorance of ManA Dissertation of the Nature of VirtueA Sermon Preached Before the House of LordsA Selection from the Correspondence between Joseph Butler and Samuel ClarkeEditorial NotesButler's Predecessors

David McNaughton provides an excellent and accessible critical introduction to Butler's celebrated Fifteen Sermons and a number of other shorter pieces (which he has edited and annotated). In this introduction he brings out the ongoing relevance of Butler's work to questions raised by modern philosophy, albeit shorn of theological components.