Abstract: In his Introduction to volume I of the Shrewsbury Edition (to which all page references to Butler's early works in section I of this chapter relate, and from which the relevant quotations are taken, unless otherwise stated), Henry Festing Jones says that Butler repeatedly claimed he had been a slow grower and had developed late in life. 'But', says Jones, 'since his death, and since reading his early writings and comparing them with his later works, I have begun to doubt' (p. xvi). Jones points out that, just as Butler discovered and adopted his straightforward style of writing early in his career, so he also seems to have 'discovered and adopted, quite early, those principles of philosophy on which he based the views which he continued to hold until his death' (pp. xvi–xvii). Jones concludes, 'I suppose now that his note should be read as meaning that he only gradually came to understand fully the significance of what had already commended itself to him, rather than that, as he grew older, he developed any startlingly new opinions' (ibid.).
Publication Year: 1986
Publication Date: 1986-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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