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The Methods of Ethics

Henry Sidgwick · Public domain text

216,234 words · about 15 h 9 min to read

Cover of The Methods of Ethics
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The text of The Methods of Ethics comes from Project Gutenberg e-text #46743. It is in English and public domain in the United States. RedLectern sets the text out for reading on screen; no words of the book are rewritten or summarized. More formats (EPUB, Kindle) · How RedLectern is built

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Cover of The Methods of Ethics

From Wikipedia

The Methods of Ethics is a book on ethics first published in 1874 by the English philosopher Henry Sidgwick. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy indicates that The Methods of Ethics "in many ways marked the culmination of the classical utilitarian tradition." Noted moral and political philosopher John Rawls, writing in the Forward to the Hackett reprint of the 7th edition,

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article “The Methods of Ethics” (revision 1348801381), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Not written by RedLectern.

Author
Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900)
Language
English
Subjects
Ethics
Length
216,234 words · about 15 h 9 min
Sections
70 reader sections · Table of contents

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Contents (70)
  1. Opening about 28 min
  2. I. INTRODUCTION about 1 min
  3. II. ETHICS AND POLITICS under 1 min
  4. III. ETHICAL JUDGMENTS about 1 min
  5. IV. PLEASURE AND DESIRE about 1 min
  6. V. FREE WILL about 1 min
  7. VI. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND METHODS under 1 min
  8. VII. EGOISM AND SELF-LOVE under 1 min
  9. VIII. INTUITIONISM under 1 min
  10. IX. GOOD under 1 min
  11. I. THE PRINCIPLE AND METHOD OF EGOISM under 1 min
  12. II. EMPIRICAL HEDONISM under 1 min
  13. III. EMPIRICAL HEDONISM (continued) about 1 min
  14. IV. OBJECTIVE HEDONISM AND COMMON SENSE under 1 min
  15. V. HAPPINESS AND DUTY under 1 min
  16. VI. DEDUCTIVE HEDONISM under 1 min
  17. I. INTUITIONISM about 1 min
  18. II. VIRTUE AND DUTY about 1 min
  19. III. THE INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES under 1 min
  20. IV. BENEVOLENCE about 1 min
  21. V. JUSTICE about 1 min
  22. VI. LAWS AND PROMISES about 1 min
  23. VII. CLASSIFICATION OF DUTIES. TRUTH about 1 min
  24. VIII. OTHER SOCIAL DUTIES AND VIRTUES under 1 min
  25. IX. SELF-REGARDING VIRTUES under 1 min
  26. X. COURAGE, HUMILITY, ETC under 1 min
  27. XI. REVIEW OF THE MORALITY OF COMMON SENSE about 1 min
  28. XII. MOTIVES OR SPRINGS OF ACTION AS SUBJECTS OF MORAL JUDGMENT under 1 min
  29. XIII. PHILOSOPHICAL INTUITIONISM about 1 min
  30. XIV. ULTIMATE GOOD about 1 min
  31. I. THE MEANING OF UTILITARIANISM under 1 min
  32. II. THE PROOF OF UTILITARIANISM under 1 min
  33. Chapter III about 1 min
  34. IV. THE METHOD OF UTILITARIANISM under 1 min
  35. V. THE METHOD OF UTILITARIANISM (continued) about 1 min
  36. I. INTRODUCTION about 23 min
  37. II. THE RELATION OF ETHICS TO POLITICS about 13 min
  38. III. ETHICAL JUDGMENTS about 26 min
  39. IV. PLEASURE AND DESIRE about 31 min
  40. V. FREE WILL about 34 min
  41. VI. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND METHODS about 19 min
  42. VII. EGOISM AND SELF-LOVE about 11 min
  43. VIII. INTUITIONISM about 14 min
  44. IX. GOOD about 18 min
  45. I. THE PRINCIPLE AND METHOD OF EGOISM about 6 min
  46. II. EMPIRICAL HEDONISM about 12 min
  47. III. EMPIRICAL HEDONISM--Continued about 32 min
  48. IV. OBJECTIVE HEDONISM AND COMMON SENSE about 17 min
  49. V. HAPPINESS AND DUTY about 24 min
  50. VI. DEDUCTIVE HEDONISM about 32 min
  51. I. INTUITIONISM about 31 min
  52. II. VIRTUE AND DUTY about 23 min
  53. III. WISDOM AND SELF-CONTROL about 11 min
  54. IV. BENEVOLENCE about 44 min
  55. V. JUSTICE about 53 min
  56. VI. LAWS AND PROMISES about 28 min
  57. VII. THE CLASSIFICATION OF DUTIES--VERACITY about 13 min
  58. VIII. OTHER SOCIAL DUTIES AND VIRTUES about 11 min
  59. IX. SELF-REGARDING VIRTUES about 8 min
  60. X. COURAGE, HUMILITY, ETC about 8 min
  61. XI. REVIEW OF THE MORALITY OF COMMON SENSE about 41 min
  62. Chapter XII about 18 min
  63. XIII. PHILOSOPHICAL INTUITIONISM about 31 min
  64. XIV. ULTIMATE GOOD about 27 min
  65. I. THE MEANING OF UTILITARIANISM about 10 min
  66. II. THE PROOF OF UTILITARIANISM about 7 min
  67. III. RELATION OF UTILITARIANISM TO THE MORALITY OF COMMON SENSE about 1 h
  68. IV. THE METHOD OF UTILITARIANISM about 24 min
  69. V. THE METHOD OF UTILITARIANISM--Continued about 58 min
  70. Appendix about 43 min

The opening of I. INTRODUCTION

§ 1. The boundaries of the study called Ethics are variously and often vaguely conceived: but they will perhaps be sufficiently defined, at the outset, for the purposes of the present treatise, if a ‘Method of Ethics’ is explained to mean any rational procedure by which we determine what individual human beings ‘ought’--or what it is ‘right’ for them--to do, or to seek to realise by voluntary action.[9] By using the word “individual” I provisionally distinguish the study of Ethics from that of Politics,[10] which seeks to determine the proper constitution and the right public conduct of governed societies: both Ethics and Politics being, in my view, distinguished from positive sciences by having as their special and primary object to determine what ought to be, and not to ascertain what merely is, has been, or will be.

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