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PRINCIPIA ETHICA PDF, EPUB, EBOOK G E Moore | 232 pages | 01 Sep 2004 | Dover Publications Inc. | 9780486437521 | English | New York, United States Principia Ethica PDF Book Continental philosophers, liberated by Kant from the need to ground their intuitions empirically, have taken on the grand mantle of philosophy of old: metaphysics, aesthetics, history. And it will not imply either, that the parts are inconceivable except as parts of that whole, or that, when they form parts of such a whole, they have a value different from that which they would have if they did not. Get A Copy. Would omore like to tell us about a lower price? But we have no reason to think that this is the case in any instance whatever. Aug 27, Michelle is currently reading it. How to cite this entry. It will not have more intrinsic value under these circumstances than under others; it will not necessarily even be a means to the existence of things having more intrinsic value: but it will, like a means, be a necessary condition for the existence of that which has greater intrinsic value, although, unlike a means, it will itself form a part of this more valuable existent. It may be replied to this: Yes, but we shall look about us just as much, before we settle on our definition, and are therefore just as likely to be right. All that the Evolution-Hypothesis tells us is that certain kinds of conduct are more evolved than others; and [p. But it is important to notice that the whole series of effects within a period of considerable length is actually taken account of in our common judgments that an action is good as a means; and that hence this additional complication, which makes ethical generalisations so far more difficult to establish than scientific laws, is one which is involved in actual ethical discussions, and is of practical importance. The result was that all normative judgements can be expressed using the two concepts good and ought, which are therefore the only ones one needed. About G. Mill, as we shall see, certainly did commit it. But Principia Ethica presented its views with unusual vigor and force. His argument is as compelling as it is easy to follow and absorb, and his work has been very influential on the likes of 20th Century philosophers like Bertrand Russell and pragmatist Ludwig Wittgenstein. It just isn't going to be of much use to those getting into the contemporary conversation, compared to modern ethicists. Moore insists that "good" is indefinable, and provides an exposition of what he calls the "naturalistic fallacy. Sidgwick himself seems never to have been clearly aware of the immense importance of the difference which distinguishes his Intuitionism from the common doctrine, which has generally been called by that name. For it cannot be denied that the action will have consequences: and to deny that the consequences matter is to make a judgment of their intrinsic value, as compared with the action itself. And who is included — is it those currently living? Honderich, Ted ed. If indeed good were a feeling, as some would have us believe, then it would exist in time. The words which are commonly taken as the signs of ethical judgments all do refer to it; and they are expressions of ethical judgments solely because they do so refer. First, as in the aesthetic case, he took the main valuable attitude to be contemplative, involving the admiration of another's already existing good qualities rather than any active engagement with them. I t appears to me that in Ethics, as in all other philosophical studies, the difficulties and disagreements, of which its history is full, are mainly due to a very simple cause: namely to the attempt to answer questions, without first discovering precisely what question it is which you desire to answer. Now let us see how it bears upon Ethical Hedonism. The relation of part to whole is not the same as that of whole to part; and the very definition [p. Principia Ethica. In the aesthetic case, he held that the admiring contemplation of beauty considered apart from the existence of its object always has the same moderate value a , while the existence of beauty always has the same minimal value b. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Consider yellow, for example. Just as chemistry aims at discovering what are the properties of oxygen, wherever it occurs , and not only of this or that particular specimen of oxygen; so Casuistry aims at discovering what actions are good, whenever they occur. If the laws of nature were different, exactly the same good might exist, although what is now a necessary condition of its existence did not exist. It is absolutely useless, so far as Ethics is concerned, to prove, as Mr Spencer [p. Desire is something which occurs in our minds, and pleasure is something else which so occurs; and our would-be ethical philosopher is merely holding that the latter is not the object of the former. And in such a view no fallacy is involved. What I suggest is that he did not perceive them to be fallacious; that, if he had done so, he would have been led to seek for other reasons in support of his Utilitarianism; and that, had he sought for other reasons, he might have found none which he thought to be sufficient. Like others of his time, he seems to have taken the realist view that moral judgements are objectively true for granted; he certainly did not defend it extensively against anti-realist alternatives. The notion sometimes lying at the bottom of the minds of preachers of this gospel is that we cannot improve on nature. To be good, an action must produce the greatest balance of mkore over unhappiness, thus producing happiness for the greatest number of persons. Ewing, A. His major ethical works did not consider a moderate deontology such as would later be developed by Ross, in which deontological prohibitions against killing and lying often outweigh considerations of good consequences but can themselves be outweighed if enough good is at stake. We are not then justified in asserting that one and the same thing is under some circumstances intrinsically good, and under others not so; as we are justified in asserting of a means that it sometimes does and sometimes does not produce good results. Accordingly, if Mr Spencer is a true Hedonist, the fact that life gives a balance of pleasure is not , as he seems to think, sufficient to prove that the more evolved conduct is the better. In previous Hedonists we find no clear and consistent recognition of the fact that their fundamental proposition involves the assumption that a [p. Principia Ethica Writer For it is the business of Ethics, I must insist, not only to obtain true results, but also to find valid reasons for them. Jul 26, Chris rated it it was amazing. The nature of these two species of universal ethical judgments is extremely different; and a great part of the difficulties, which are met with in ordinary ethical speculation, are due to the failure to distinguish them clearly. It may, I said, be true that desire can never occur unless it be preceded by some actual pleasure; but even if this is true, it obviously gives no ground for saying that the object of desire is always some future pleasure. But this meant his account had no room for the special attachments many take to be central to personal love. Nevertheless the kind of evidence, which is both necessary and alone relevant to such proof and disproof, is capable of exact [p. Why, if good is good and indefinable, should I be held to deny that pleasure is good? Moore, my understanding of the subjects dealt with deepens tremendously. Ethical discussion, hitherto, has perhaps consisted chiefly in reasoning of this totally irrelevant kind. But, if we understand the question in this sense, my answer to it may seem a very disappointing one. Moore , Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Chisholm and Elizabeth Schneewind, London: This entry has no external links. Drawing ethical implications from these factual claims is logically impossible. Well, how does pleasure enter in to this relation? One of this chapter's larger aims was to defend value-pluralism, the view that there are many ultimate goods. To some this conclusion will mean that Moore and his contemporaries ignored important conceptual distinctions; to others it will mean they avoided tedious conceptual debates. Though he thought this a crucial part of love, he took it to involve mere passive admiration of another's beauty, as it were from the other side of the room. And, for this reason, it is not the business of the ethical philosopher to give personal advice or exhortation. Struggling through this for my Philosophy class on Ethics. Details if other :. Definitions of the kind that I was asking for, definitions which describe the real nature of the object or notion denoted by a word, and which do not merely tell us what the word is used to mean, are only possible when the object or notion in question is something complex. Such a definition can never be of ultimate importance in any study except lexicography. Rating details. And with regard to the latter, these best possible results which justify our action can, in any case, have only so much of intrinsic value as the laws of nature allow us to secure; and they in their turn may have no intrinsic value whatsoever, but may merely be a means to the attainment in a still further future of something that has such value.