A Handbook of Ethical Theory   By: George Stuart Fullerton (1859-1925)

BY GEORGE STUART FULLERTON

To

MY WIFE

PREFACE

We are all amply provided, with moral maxims, which we hold with more or less confidence, but an insight into their significance is not attained without reflection and some serious effort. Yet, surely, in a field in which there are so many differences of opinion, clearness of insight and breadth of view are eminently desirable.

It is with a view to helping students of ethics in our universities and outside of them to a clearer comprehension of the significance of morals and the end of ethical endeavor, that this book has been written.

I have, in the Notes appended to it, taken the liberty of making a few suggestions to teachers, some of whom have fewer years of teaching behind them than I have. I make no apology for writing in a clear and untechnical style, nor for reducing to a minimum references to literatures in other tongues than our own. These things are in accord with the aim of the volume.

I take this opportunity of thanking Professor Margaret F. Washburn, of Vassar College, and Professor F. J. E. Woodbridge, of Columbia University, for kind assistance, which I have found helpful.

G. S. F. New York, 1921.

CONTENTS

PART I

THE ACCEPTED CONTENT OF MORALS

CHAPTER I. IS THERE AN ACCEPTED CONTENT? 1. The Point in Dispute. 2. What Constitutes Substantial Agreement? 3. Dogmatic Assumption.

CHAPTER II. THE CODES OF COMMUNITIES 4. The Codes of Communities: Justice. 5. The Codes of Communities: Veracity. 6. The Codes of Communities: the Common Good.

CHAPTER III. THE CODES OF THE MORALISTS 7. The Moralists. 8. Epicurean and Stoic. 9. Plato; Aristotle; the Church. 10. Later Lists of the Virtues. 11. The Stretching of Moral Concepts. 12. The Reflective Mind and the Moral Codes.

PART II

ETHICS AS SCIENCE

CHAPTER IV. THE AWAKENING TO REFLECTION 13. The Dogmatism of the Natural Man. 14. The Awakening.

CHAPTER V. ETHICAL METHOD 15. Inductive and Deductive Method. 16 The Authority of the "Given."

CHAPTER VI. THE MATERIALS OF ETHICS 17. How the Moralist should Proceed. 18. The Philosopher as Moralist.

CHAPTER VII. THE AIM OF ETHICS AS SCIENCE 19. The Appeal to Reason. 20. The Appeal to Reason Justified.

PART III

MAN AND HIS ENVIRONMENT

CHAPTER VIII. MAN'S NATURE 21. The Background of Actions. 22. Man's Nature. 23. How Discover Man's Nature?

CHAPTER IX. MAN'S MATERIAL ENVIRONMENT 24. The Struggle with Nature. 25. The Conquests of the Mind. 26. The Conquest of Nature and the Well being of Man.

CHAPTER X. MAN'S SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT 27. Man is Assigned his Place. 28. Varieties of the Social Order. 29. Social Organization. 30. Social Order and Human Will.

PART IV

THE REALM OF ENDS

CHAPTER XI. IMPULSE, DESIRE, AND WILL 31. Impulse. 32. Desire. 33. Desire of the Unattainable. 34. Will. 35. Desire and Will not Identical. 36. The Will and Deferred Action.

CHAPTER XII. THE PERMANENT WILL 37. Consciously Chosen Ends. 38. Ends not Consciously Chosen. 39. The Choice of Ideals.

CHAPTER XIII. THE OBJECT IN DESIRE AND WILL 40. The Object as End to be Realized. 41. Human Nature and the Objects Chosen. 42. The Instincts and Impulses of Man. 43. The Study of Man's Instincts Important. 44. The Bewildering Multiplicity of the Objects of Desire, and the Effort to Find an Underlying Unity.

CHAPTER XIV. INTENTION AND MOTIVE 45. Complex Ends. 46. Intention. 47. Motive. 48. Ethical Significance of Intention and Motive.

CHAPTER XV. FEELING AS MOTIVE 49. Feeling. 50. Feeling and Action. 51. Feeling as Object. 52. Freedom as Object.

CHAPTER XVI. RATIONALITY AND WILL 53. The Irrational Will. 54. One View of Reason. 55. Dominant and Subordinate Desires. 56. The Harmonization of Desires. 57. Varieties of Dominant Ends. 58. An Objection Answered. 59. This View of Reason Misconceived. 60. Another View of Reason.

PART V

THE SOCIAL WILL