ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the three philosophers, two, David Hume and Joseph Butler, were rough contemporaries of Immanuel Kant and the third, Thomas Hobbes, lived only a century earlier. Each of these philosophers believes people are, to a significant extent, naturally motivated by self-interest. The philosophers attempt to account for and justify morality in terms of a more ordinary, mundane conception of human motives. Kant answered the questions by postulating that moral laws are laws of reason that motivate rational beings independent of inclinations, which he sees as self-interested. One reason Kant thinks moral motivation must not derive from sentiment is that sentiment is too insecure a foundation. Perhaps the single most important thing to get from Butler is an appreciation for the huge variety of human motives and desires, good and bad, exciting and mundane. Self-interest is a constant among people.
