The Methods of Ethics by Sidgwick

Overview

The Methods of Ethics (1874) is the foundational text of modern utilitarian ethics, and the book that made Henry Sidgwick the most important moral philosopher of the Victorian age. The book examines the three great "methods" of ethics — egoism (the pursuit of one's own good), intuitionism (the knowledge of the moral truths by intuition), and utilitarianism (the greatest good of all) — and it develops the most rigorous case for utilitarianism ever written. The book's method is the method of the impartial examination: each method is stated in its strongest form, examined by the reason, and weighed against the others. Its conclusion is the famous "dualism of practical reason": the rational case for egoism and the rational case for utilitarianism both appear sound, and the conflict between the good of the self and the good of all remains unresolved — a problem that Sidgwick called "the profoundest problem in ethics." The book has shaped the entire subsequent history of the subject, from the ethics of Moore and Ross to the modern debate over the foundations of utilitarianism.

Author

Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900) was an English philosopher, economist, and educator, a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and one of the most influential moral philosophers of the nineteenth century. He was also a public reformer: a founder of Newnham College, the first Cambridge college for women, and a tireless campaigner for the reform of the university. The Methods of Ethics, first published in 1874 and revised through seven editions, is his masterpiece.

Historical Background

The book belongs to the high Victorian debate over the foundations of ethics. The utilitarian tradition of Bentham and Mill had made the greatest happiness the standard of the right; the intuitionist tradition of the Cambridge moralists had defended the moral truths known by intuition; and the egoist tradition had grounded the ethics in the self-interest. Sidgwick's project was the examination of all three by a single impartial method, and the book's rigor and honesty made it the model of the philosophical examination. The book was also shaped by the crisis of religious faith: Sidgwick had abandoned the Christian faith that had grounded the moral order, and the book is the search for the rational foundation of the ethics in a world without the divine law.

Key Ideas

The book's central method is the examination of the three methods. Egoism: the method of the rational pursuit of one's own good — the maximization of one's own happiness. Intuitionism: the method of the moral truths known by intuition — the axioms of justice, prudence, and benevolence that the reason can grasp directly. Utilitarianism: the method of the greatest good of all — the maximization of the happiness of everyone affected. Sidgwick's examination shows that the intuitionist axioms, properly formulated, lead to utilitarianism: the axiom of benevolence — "the good of any one individual is of no more importance than the good of any other" — is the foundation of the greatest-happiness principle. The book's conclusion is the famous dualism: the reason endorses both egoism and utilitarianism, and the two cannot be reconciled within the ethical method — the question of the relation of the self's good to the good of all remains the unresolved "profoundest problem."

Important Passages

The most famous passages of the book are the statement of the axiom of benevolence: "The good of any one individual is of no more importance, from the point of view (if I may say so) of the Universe, than the good of any other"; the formulation of the dualism: "The practical reason may be said to be divided against itself, in the conflict between the rational egoist and the rational utilitarian"; and the methodological preface, in which Sidgwick describes his book as "an examination, at once expository and critical, of the different methods of obtaining reasoned convictions as to what ought to be done."

Influence

The influence of The Methods of Ethics is fundamental. It established the modern utilitarian ethics on its most rigorous foundations, shaped the ethics of G.E. Moore (whose Principia Ethica is a response to it) and the whole Cambridge tradition, and posed the dualism of practical reason that still structures the debate over the foundations of ethics. The book is regarded by many philosophers — Sidgwick's admirers include John Rawls, Derek Parfit, and Bernard Williams — as the greatest work of ethics since Aristotle. Its method of the impartial examination remains the model of the philosophical ethics.

Sources

• Sidgwick, Henry. The Methods of Ethics. London: Macmillan, 1874; 7th ed. 1907.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Henry Sidgwick" (plato.stanford.edu/entries/sidgwick)