Charles Butterworth, Ph.D. (born 1938) is a noted philosopher of the Straussian school and currently an emeritus professor of political philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Butterworth is also a translator and editor of numerous books about the philosophers Rousseau, Alfarabi, and Averroes.
Butterworth received his B.A. from Michigan State University. He trained in political philosophy and Arabic as well as Islamic civilization at the University of Chicago, where he received an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science. He has also studied at the University of Ayn Shams in Egypt, the University of Bordeaux, and the University of Nancy in France (receiving a doctorate in philosophy from the latter).
Before joining the faculty of the University of Maryland, Butterworth taught at the University of Chicago and Federal City College (now the University of the District of Columbia). He has also taught at St. John's College, Georgetown University, and Harvard University, in addition to Marmara University, the University of Bordeaux, the University of Grenoble, the University of Paris I (Sorbonne), the University of Paris X (Nanterre), and the École pratique des hautes études.