Fundamentals Of Ethics - An Introduction To Moral Philosophy (Paperback)

FUNDAMENTALS OF ETHICS AN INTRODUCTION TO MORAL PHILOSOPHY BY WILBUR MARSHALL URBAN STONE PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN DARTMOUTH COLLEGE NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1930, BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY, INC. November 1933 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To THE MANY DARTMOUTH STUDENTS WHO BY THEIR UNFEIGNED INTEREST IN HUMAN GOOD HAVE MADE THE TEACHING OF ETHICS A PLEASURE AND NOT A TASK PREFACE The title is a fair description of the nature and purpose of the book. The choice of subject matter and the arrange ment of topics are the results of many years experience in teaching undergraduates in American colleges, and repre sent what seems to the author to be the minimum of an introductory course in Ethics what may properly be de scribed as the fundamentals of the subject. An introductory course in ethics in the American college has come to have a double object and to fulfill a double function. Its primary purpose is doubtless practical. It has a unique place among the social sciences, in that it consti tutes the one subject in which students are systematically trained in the understanding and evaluation of human con duct or behavior in both its individual and social aspects. For this reason it has rightly come to include more and more the moral problems connected with the economic and institutional life of man. On the other hand, ethics is for many students their introductory course in philosophy for some their only course. Historically, ethics has always been a part of philosophy and is ordinarily taught by philosophers. It scarcely fulfills its function if it does not awake the students mind to those more profound problems of human life called metaphysical, and does notstimulate him to philosophical thinking and study. It has long seemed to the writer that a course in ethics should serve both these ends, and an attempt to do so has been made in the present work. The division of the book into three parts follows naturally from this conception of the course. Part I, entitled Moral Theory, aims to present to the student the results of reflective thinking in morals and to make him acquainted with the vii viii PREFACE fundamental ethical concepts and theories that have emerged. The method sometimes followed of beginning with what are called facts rather than theory in other words, with the psychology and sociology of the moral life has its merits but it has the defect of putting off too long the discussion of moral problems themselves, in which the be ginner has a natural interest, and often dissipates that interest before the vital problems are reached. I am con vinced that the method here followed is pedagogically the sounder, and I have never found any difficulty in securing the students interest in ethical theory. It should be made sufficiently clear to him that only in this way can he approach intelligently the practical problems of the moral life. Chapter II is specifically designed to achieve this result. Part II, by far the longer portion of the book, is entitled Moral Practice. The object here is to make the student vitally aware of the moral problems of the modern world. Emphasis is put upon the ideas of rights, duties and justice, the object being to provide the student with clear working conceptions with which he may approach the vexed questions of our present economic and social life. The conception of human values is made central and laws andinstitutions are viewed as embodiments of these values. In the treatment of the ethical institutions of society, the teacher is always faced with the problem of choosing between a sketchy treat ment of all our institutions or a more thorough handling of selected ones. Experience has taught me that the latter is the better method. I have, accordingly emphasized the basal institutions of Property and the Family. This limitation has made possible a more extended and detailed examination of special problems. Part III is entitled Moral Philosophy...