Popular Science Monthly/Volume 29/October 1886/Literary Notices
Outlines of the History of Ethics for English Readers. By Henry Sidgwick. London: Macmillan & Co. 1886. Pp. 271. Price, $1.50.
Leaving Herbert Spencer out of consideration, no living or recent writer has made an impression on ethical thought equal to that of Professor Sidgwick. Whatever he produces, then, might naturally be expected to be of value. Our anticipations are not disappointed in this little volume. As far as it goes, it is, without doubt, the most thoroughly admirable treatise upon the history of ethics extant. This praise is due for its conciseness, for its impartiality, and for its accuracy. It is an excellent college text-book, and also full enough to give the general student a better idea than he can elsewhere obtain of that portion of ethical history which it covers.
This book is by no means a mere chronology. It is full of the evidences of careful critical study. The essential features of the different ethical systems are grasped with certainty and presented with remarkable clearness. We get from this presentation many new ideas, both of the tenets of philosophers and their true relationship to each other. The points of agreement, for example, between Plato and Aristotle, as indicated by the author, are very impressive. The relations of pre-Socratic ethics to these latter are well shown. The translation of εὺδαιηοία by "well-being," instead of the usual "happiness," gives us quite a different conception of much of the Greek ethical philosophy. The contrasts between Stoicism and Epicureanism are sharply and truthfully drawn. The influence of the Roman jurisprudence upon ethical development is exhibited in a manner indicating the author's knowledge and appreciation of the work of scholars like Sir Henry Sumner Maine. Mediæval ethics and Christianity are treated without leaving the reader's mind in a state of hopeless confusion respecting the landmarks of progress and the work of individuals with whose names we are familiar, but of whose special value we can ordinarily learn but little from philosophical and religious histories. The chapter on modern English ethics is conspicuously free from controversial matter and from the animus of the partisan. All through, we find new ideas which reveal critical acumen, and compel us, if not to change, at least to reconsider our conclusions on many special points of historical fact. For instance, we are somewhat startled by the opinion that in the latter part of Plato's life, when he wrote the "Timæus," he did not believe in the immortality of the individual soul. Again, the average reader will probably be somewhat surprised to learn that Bishop Butler held self-love and conscience to be independent principles, and so far coordinate in authority that neither should be overruled by the other; if either were to give way, it must be conscience. Also, the importance of such works as Price's "Review of the Chief Questions and Difficulties of Morals" (1757), and Gay's "Essay," prefixed to Law's translation of King's "Origin of Evil" (1731), in the history of English ethics, is seldom considered and nowhere else saliently brought out.
All these considerations awaken regrets that the work before us is avowedly incomplete. The author says, by way of explanation, that, since the foundation of this book was an article written for the "Encyclopædia Britannica," after some hesitation he concluded to retain his original plan, and deal only with modern ethical systems as they relate to English moralists. We think this was decidedly a mistake. It detracts very considerably from the usefulness of the treatise. There is no utility, even for English readers, in presenting the ethical movements of Continental thought as an appendage to English ethics. The French and German systems have contributed powerfully to form the principles of morals, and very extensively to determine character and conduct. The French Revolution was primarily a political convulsion, but the ethical influences contributing to bring it about, and which i