Illustrations on the Moral Sense

Francis Hutcheson

Published by Harvard University Press 1971

Illustrations on the Moral Sense

Francis Hutcheson
Edited by: Bernard Peach

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674184466

Overview
Contents

About this book

The writings of Francis Hutcheson played a central role in the development of British moral philosophy in the eighteenth century. His Illustrations on the Moral Sense is significant not only historically but also for its exploration of problems of concern in contemporary ethics. Yet except for brief selections it has not appeared in print since the eighteenth century.

Independent moral philosophy began in England with Hobbes and the reactions to his views, in which two divergent strains were implicit: one a rationalistic appeal to eternal and immutable essences and the other an empirical appeal to human affections and desires. Hutcheson countered Hobbes' theory, which was based on self interest, with a theory based on the moral sense and made explicit the opposition between the school of reason and the school of sentiment. His treatment of these and other issues set British moral philosophy on a line of development that has continued to the present.

This edition of Illustrations on the Moral Sense again makes available Hutcheson's contributions to normative ethics and metaethics, thus making possible a more accurate evaluation of his significance in the history of ethics. His epistemology of morals and his theory of justification are critically examined in a substantial introduction by the editor, Bernard Peach. In addition, Hutcheson's correspondence with Gilbert Burnet, the Younger, which is central to an understanding of the controversies in British moral philosophy in the eighteenth century, is made accessible here for the first time since 1735 in an extensive appendix.

Author / Editor information

Hutcheson Francis :

Mr. Peach is Professor of Philosophy at Duke University.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Editor’s Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Illustrations on the Moral Sense
Preface to An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections with Illustrations on the Moral Sense Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Section I. Concerning the character of virtue, agreeable to truth or reason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
Section II. Concerning that character of virtue and vice, the fitness or unfitness of actions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Section III. Mr. Wollaston’s significancy of truth, as the idea of virtue, considered Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
Section IV. Showing the use of reason concerning virtue and vice, upon supposition that we receive these ideas by a moral sense Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Section V. Showing that virtue may have whatever is meant by merit and be rewardable upon the supposition that it is perceived by a sense and elected from affection or instinct Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Section VI. How far a regard to the Deity is necessary to make an action virtuous Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Appendix. The Correspondence between Gilbert Burnet and Francis Hutcheson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Copyright year: 1971
Edition: Reprint 2014
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Front matter: 8
- Main content: 252
Keywords: Ethics.

eBook

Published: October 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780674184466

Hardcover

Published: February 5, 1971
ISBN: 9780674184442