Handbook of Ethical Theory

Handbook of Ethical Theory

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Title: A Handbook of Ethical Theory
Author: George Stuart Fullerton
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HANDBOOK OF ETHICAL THEORY ***

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A HANDBOOK OF ETHICAL THEORY
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