A lucid introduction to the philosophical discipline known as Ethics, covering a vast range of history from the beginning of philosophy in ancient Greece to the start of the 20th century and the eve of one of the most horrific wars ever waged. A perfect introduction for students new to the philosophical development of ethics and as a refresher for those of us on the path to discover knowledge.
Contents include:
Definition and Subject-Matter of Ethics
Greek and Graeco-Roman Ethics
The Age of the Sophists
Socrates and his Disciples
Plato
Plato and Aristotle
Aristotle
Stoicism
Hedonism (Epicurus)
Later Greek and Roman Ethics
Neoplatonism
Christianity and Medieval Ethics
Christian and Jewish “Law of God”
Christian and Pagan Inwardness (Knowledge, Faith, Love, Purity)
Distinctive particulars of Christian morality
Development of opinion in early Christianity, Augustine, Ambrose
Medieval Morality and Moral Philosophy
Thomas Aquinas
Casuistry and Jesuitry
The Reformation; and birth of Modern Thought
Modern Ethics
Grotius
Hobbes
The Cambridge Moralists (Cudworth, More)
Cumberland
Locke
Clarke
Shaftesbury
Mandeville
Butler
Wollaston
Hutcheson
Hume
Adam Smith
The Intuitional School (Price, Reid, Stewart, Whewell)
The Utilitarian School (Paley, Bentham, Mill)
Association and Evolution
Free-will
French Influence on English Ethics (Helvetius, Comte)
German Influence on English Ethics (Kant, Hegel)
Ethics since 1879
