Ethics Through History: An Introduction

Description

What is the human good? What are the primary virtues that make a good person? What makes an action right? Must we try to maximize good consequences? How can we know what is right and good? Can morality be rationally justified? In Ethics Through History, Terence Irwin addresses such fundamental questions, making these central debates intelligible to readers without an extensive background in philosophy. He provides a historical and philosophical discussion of major questions and key philosophers in the history of ethics, in the tradition that begins with Socrates onwards. Irwin covers ancient, medieval, and modern moral philosophers whose views have helped to form the agenda for contemporary ethical theory, paying attention to the strengths and weaknesses of their respective positions. Dedication Preface Contents Abbreviations and Conventions 1. Introduction 2. Socrates: The Choice of Lives 3. Plato 4. Aristotle 5. Scepticism 6. Epicurus: Happiness as Pleasure 7. The Stoics: Happiness as Virtue 8. Christian Belief and Moral Philosophy: Augustine 9. Aquinas 10. Scotus and Ockham 11. Morality and Social Human Nature: Suarez and Grotius 12. Hobbes: Natural Law without Social Human Nature 13. Voluntarism, Naturalism, and Moral Realism: Pufendorf, Shaftesbury, Cudworth, and Clarke 14. Sentimentalism: A Non-Rational Ground for Morality—Hutcheson and Hume 15. Rationalism: A Rational Ground for Morality—Butler, Price, and Reid 16. Kant and Some Critics 17. Schopenhauer: Kant’s Insights and Errors 18. Hegel: Beyond Kantian Morality 19. Nietzsche: Against Kant and Morality 20. Utilitarianism: Mill and Sidgwick 21. Beyond Kantian and Utilitarian Morality: An Idealist Alternative—Green and Bradley 22. Meta-Ethics: Objectivity and Its Critics 23. Utilitarianism and Its Critics: Some Further Questions Bibliography Index