"Every man is to be considered in two capacities, the private and public; as designed to pursue his own interest, and likewise to contribute to the good of others"
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Butler is doing something slyly modern: splitting the human being into two job descriptions and refusing to let either one plead innocence. In an age when polite society loved to flatter self-interest as “natural” and therefore excusable, he grants the premise - people do pursue their own interest - then quietly denies its monopoly. The sentence is built like a moral trap. “Considered in two capacities” sounds like calm bookkeeping, but it functions as a rebuke to any ethic that treats selfishness as the whole story.
The specific intent is corrective. Butler, an Anglican cleric writing in the shadow of Hobbes and against the rising fashion for moral psychology that reduced virtue to disguised appetite, insists on a dual teleology: we are designed both for self-care and for social care. That word “designed” matters. It’s not merely an observation about behavior; it’s an argument about human nature with theological undertones. If both impulses are native, then benevolence isn’t an angelic add-on; it’s part of the machine.
The subtext is political as well as spiritual. By naming a “public” capacity, Butler legitimizes obligations that aren’t transactional: duties to community, to institutions, to strangers. Yet he doesn’t romanticize altruism. He keeps “private” interest in the frame, which makes the appeal harder to dismiss as sermonizing. The line works because it offers a theory of the self that can anchor civic life without pretending people are saints: a moral architecture where self-interest has a room, but not the whole house.
The specific intent is corrective. Butler, an Anglican cleric writing in the shadow of Hobbes and against the rising fashion for moral psychology that reduced virtue to disguised appetite, insists on a dual teleology: we are designed both for self-care and for social care. That word “designed” matters. It’s not merely an observation about behavior; it’s an argument about human nature with theological undertones. If both impulses are native, then benevolence isn’t an angelic add-on; it’s part of the machine.
The subtext is political as well as spiritual. By naming a “public” capacity, Butler legitimizes obligations that aren’t transactional: duties to community, to institutions, to strangers. Yet he doesn’t romanticize altruism. He keeps “private” interest in the frame, which makes the appeal harder to dismiss as sermonizing. The line works because it offers a theory of the self that can anchor civic life without pretending people are saints: a moral architecture where self-interest has a room, but not the whole house.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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