Browsing by Subject "Butler’s stone"

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    Butler's Stone
    (Wiley, 2018-12) Tilley, John J.; Philosophy, School of Liberal Arts
    In the eleventh of Joseph Butler's Fifteen Sermons we find his best‐known argument against psychological hedonism. Elliott Sober calls that argument Butler's stone, and famously challenges it. I consider whether Butler's stone has value. In doing so I examine, and reject, two possible responses to Sober's objection. This involves, in part, discussing Lord Kames's version of the stone argument, which has hitherto escaped scholarly attention. Finally, I explain an important value of Butler's stone, which I have not found previously discussed. Butler's stone blocks an inference, persuasive to many people, which purports to show that we intrinsically desire only pleasure.