A MANUAL OF ETHICS. BY JOHN S. MACKENZIE, M.A., PROFESSOR OF LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOUTH WALES FOURTH EDITION. REVISED, Enlarged, AND IN PART REWRITTEN. HINDS & NOBLE, Publishers, Schoolbooks of all publishers at one store. A Harvard University, .cf Education Library. Gift of the Publishers. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. The chief change in this edition consists in the addition of a chapter on the "Authority of the Moral Standard' (Book II., Chapter VI.). This chapter includes an account of the Sanctions, which formerly appeared as a rote to Chapter VI. of Book III. I have also added a short note on the classification of the Virtues at the end of Chapter VI. of Book III. The other alterations in this edition are very slight. I am glad to have this opportunity of acknowledging the kind expressions of appreciation that I have received from teachers of Philosophy in the United States and Canada. It is particularly gratifying to me to know that my book has been found useful in a part of the world from which so many of the most valuable and attractive Manuals of Philosophy have come. At a time when we are being somewhat acutely reminded of the essential similarity of our political problems, it is perhaps specially fitting that we should remember that we are still more profoundly united on the larger problems of life and thought. February, 1901. Copyright, 1897, by W. B. Clive. Harvard College Library Jan. 21.1910 from PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. THIS handbook is intended primarily for the use of private students, and especially for those who are preparing for such examinations in Ethics as those conducted by the University of London. It is hoped, however, that it will be found useful also by other classes of readers. Its design is to give, in brief compass, an outline of the most important principles of ethical doctrine, so far as these can be understood without a knowledge of Metaphysics. To do this satisfactorily is by no means easy; and I can hardly hope that I have been successful in overcoming the difficulties. The theory of Ethics must, I believe, in the end rest on Metaphysics; and what it is possible to do without Metaphysics can be little more than a clearing of the ground, and a leading up to the metaphysical principles that are involved in the subject. The system of metaphysical truth, however, is like a city with many gates; and perhaps the student may enter it by the ethical gate as profitably as by any other. It has been my aim, at any rate, to conduct the student gradually inwards from the psychological outworks to the metaphysical foundation. It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that the metaphysical point of view adopted in this Manual is that of the school of Idealism-i. e. the school founded V by Kant and developed by Hegel, Green, and others. In this respect the present Text-book is similar to two other treatises which appeared a little before itDewey's Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics, and Muirhead's Elements of Ethics. If these books had been published before this one was arranged for, it is probable that it would never have been undertaken. As it is, I can only plead that the subject is handled in this work in. a way slightly different from that in which it is taken up by either of the other two, and that it may consequently in some respects satisfy a want which neither of them fully meets. I hope, however, that readers of my book will, as far as possible, consult the other two also. Where there is a general harmony of point of view, a comparison of the methods of treatment adopted by different writers on points of detail is often of the greatest value to the student. I think it would be especially useful for readers of this book, who have time to spare, to compare it in this way with Muirhead's Elements of Ethics. The latter work is designed for a slightly different purpose; and at many points it will be found to supply a very useful supplement to the present treatise by presenting the same general ideas in a somewhat different light. For the convenience of students who may use it in this way, I have inserted frequent references to Mr. Muirhead's book, and have indicated the main points of divergence. Other two books which have since appeared-Professor James Seth's Study of Ethical Principles and Mr. C. F. D'Arcy's Short Study of Ethics-are also written from a point of view which is to a large extent similar. In both of these books there is a good deal of space devoted to the discussion of the metaphysical basis; but in neither case does the discussion appear satisfactory. On the whole I have thought it best to leave such discussions to works that are expressly metaphysical in character. |