Balguy, John

Abstract John Balguy (1686–1748) was a Cambridge‐educated clergyman who is best remembered for a dogged defense of moral rationalism ( see Rationalism in Ethics), clever critiques of Francis Hutcheson's moral sense theory ( see Hutcheson, Francis), and staunch opposition to Hobbesian egoism ( see Hobbes, Thomas).His influence can be seen in David Hume's ( see Hume, David) reformulations of the doctrine of moral sense and the rationalisms of Richard Price and Thomas Reid. Balguy's thought belongs squarely within the tradition of British rationalism (Ralph Cudworth, Samuel Clarke, Price, and Reid). It stands opposed to both the skeptical/egoistical tradition of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Bernard Mandeville and the sentimentalist tradition of the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Hume, and Adam Smith ( see Sentimentalism; Sentiments, Moral).