A Short History Of Ethics Greek And Modern

Author : Reginald Rogers
Publisher : CreateSpace
ISBN 13 : 9781501077463
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (774 download)

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Download or read book A Short History of Ethics written by Reginald Rogers and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-09-05 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: REGINALD A. P. ROGERS has written an excellent little book which is likely to prove exceedingly useful to students entering on the study of ethics. The proper function of such a work is to be supplementary to the reading of some of the ethical philosophers, and it ought in no case to take the place of a first-hand acquaintance with the sources. If employed in this way, this Short History will be found valuable in furnishing a general conspectus of the subject, and in bringing out the points of connection and contrast between ethical systems, ancient and modern. It is natural to compare Mr. Rogers's book with another on the same theme (Outlines of the History of Ethics) by the late Professor Sidgwick, issued by the same publishers, at the same price, some twenty-five years ago. Professor Sidgwick's work is of course very clear and correct, and it is fuller than the present volume. But in Mr. Rogers's work the cardinal points stand out in better relief, and a young student will find it easier to grasp and remember than Professor Sidgwick's. Mr. Rogers confines himself to Greek and Modern Ethics, and passes over Christianity and the mediaeval period. On the whole we regret that his plan did not include a short sketch of Christian and of Mediaeval Ethics; for it would have made his history more complete, and enabled the reader to understand better the transition from Greek to Modern Ethics. Over the ground which he covers Mr. Rogers is always a competent and reliable guide. His expositions are lucid and accurate, and his criticisms are fair and acute. Indeed if one were to pass judgment on Mr. Rogers's book, it would rather be for faults of omission than commission. It might for instance have been worthwhile to show more in detail the great debt of Aristotle to the ethics of Plato. In the department of Modern Ethics Mr. Rogers deals very effectively with Hobbes, Butler, the Utilitarians, and Kant. Of Kant's ethical theory he justly remarks: "But logical consistency was achieved at the expense of identifying the essence of the true self with a purely formal reason, and of regarding feelings and desires as merely transitory accidents of self-consciousness." The history of Modern Ethics includes an account of the theories of Green, Spencer, and Sidgwick. Green's views receive little or no criticism, and the author might at least have made the student aware of certain difficulties and objections which have been raised. One would have been glad if the excellent treatment of these writers had been supplemented by some notice of the ethical theory of Dr Martineau in its relation to the theories of Butler, Hutcheson, and Kant. Mr. Rogers's book may be cordially recommended as a very sound and trustworthy guide to the subject. On p. 91 the sentence beginning "It is true" should be "Is it true": as it stands the meaning is exactly the opposite of what the author intends. Nor does it seem correct to say (p. 216) that Fichte held that particular self-consciousness is the final reality. -Review of Theology & Philosophy, Volume 7