Being and FreedomPub Date : 2021-04-08DOI: 10.1093/OSO/9780198716761.003.0009
J. Skorupski
{"title":"Green and Sidgwick","authors":"J. Skorupski","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198716761.003.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198716761.003.0009","url":null,"abstract":"The end of the nineteenth century saw a rethinking of German idealism led by Thomas Hill Green, and a refinement of utilitarianism by Henry Sidgwick. This chapter examines their restatements of the two great late modern syntheses: absolute idealism and utilitarian liberalism. For both, the crisis of religion was fundamental. In Green’s case this meant a return to absolute idealism, with religion at its core, and a new application to the politics of liberalism. In Sidgwick’s case it led to an implicit nihilism. Sidgwick’s analysis of normative ‘intuition’ is discussed, his thesis of the dualism of practical reason is examined, and it is pointed out that on his own penetrating account of normative warrant, neither egoism nor utilitarianism is warranted. The final section of the chapter reconsiders the role of sentiment, will, and reason as bases of impartiality.","PeriodicalId":218291,"journal":{"name":"Being and Freedom","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130856388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Being and FreedomPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0010
J. Skorupski
{"title":"Concluding Reflection","authors":"J. Skorupski","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses issues which arose in this period and remain important for philosophical ethics today. The deepest of these is the contest between individualism and holism which was traced in the French Revolution and then in Hegel (Section 1). This fundamental ethical divide interacts with the metaphysics of freedom (Sections 2 and 4) and is shaped by the philosophical crisis of religion (Section 3). Section 5 turns to the ethics of freedom, and Section 6 to its politics, which centres on the relation between democracy and liberalism. Reflection on these topics must take account of the impact of modernism (Section 7), and of the epistemological effects of democracy (Section 8). A concluding reassessment is proposed by contrasting the syntheses of Hegel and Mill (Section 9), and returning in Section 10 to ask: what, then, are the foundations of ethics?","PeriodicalId":218291,"journal":{"name":"Being and Freedom","volume":"118 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125250770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Being and FreedomPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0003
J. Skorupski
{"title":"Freedom in Kant’s Revolution","authors":"J. Skorupski","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter turns to the philosophical revolution of Kant. Starting from what he described as his ‘Copernican’ revolution in epistemology, it examines what he took to be its implications, negative and positive, for metaphysics, ethics, and religion. It examines Kant’s account of freedom as autonomy; his moral theory and its basis in the categorical imperative; his conception of the relation between morality and practical reason; and his ethical views and ideals. His political views are examined in relation to the ideas identified in Chapter I, particularly those of the revolutionary thinker Sieyès. In the concluding section Kant’s critical and hermeneutic stance in metaphysics and ethics is defended. It is argued, however, that while transcendental idealism is a powerful response to the problem of knowledge, it is not required for a full account of freedom, will, and reason.","PeriodicalId":218291,"journal":{"name":"Being and Freedom","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124022439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Being and FreedomPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0005
J. Skorupski
{"title":"Freedom and Spirit","authors":"J. Skorupski","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198716761.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter traces the development of Hegel’s thought from his early reactions to the French Revolution and the Enlightenment crisis of religion, through the Phenomenology of Spirit, to the Philosophy of Right. Hegel’s ethical thought propounds two deep theses. First, what he calls Moralität, the individualistic modern standpoint of freedom of conscience, can only survive within ethical life (Sittlichkeit), in which individuals are realized through their service and self-understanding in various social wholes. Second, ethical life realizes the life of spirit. Absolute idealism is the metaphysics of spirit: its fundamental concept is the dialectical identity, or unity-in-difference, of self and other. This conception of ethical life issues in a deep rethinking of religion and politics: a reconciling vision of being and freedom in the modern age.","PeriodicalId":218291,"journal":{"name":"Being and Freedom","volume":" 8","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132040790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}