Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy

by Rawls, John

• ISBN13: 9780674004429
• ISBN10: 0674004426
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-11-15
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

they also afford unique insight into how John Rawls has transformed our view of this history.

Table of Contents

Editor's Foreword	xi
A Note on the Texts	xxi
Introduction: Modern Moral Philosophy, 1600--1800	1	(1)
A Difference between Classical and Modern Moral Philosophy	1	(2)
The Main Problem of Greek Moral Philosophy	3	(2)
The Background of Modern Moral Philosophy	5	(3)
The Problems of Modern Moral Philosophy	8	(3)
The Relation between Religion and Science	11	(3)
Kant on Science and Religion	14	(3)
On Studying Historical Texts	17	(4)
Hume
Morality Psychologized and the Passions	21	(15)
Background: Skepticism and the Fideism of Nature	21	(3)
Classification of the Passions	24	(3)
Outline of Section 3 of Part III of Book II	27	(4)
Hume's Account of (Nonmoral) Deliberation: The Official View	31	(5)
Rational Deliberation and the Role of Reason	36	(15)
Three Questions about Hume's Official View	36	(1)
Three Further Psychological Principles	37	(3)
Deliberation as Transforming the System of Passions	40	(3)
The General Appetite to Good	43	(2)
The General Appetite to Good: Passion or Principle?	45	(6)
Justice as an Artificial Virtue	51	(18)
The Capital of the Sciences	51	(2)
The Elements of Hume's Problem	53	(3)
The Origin of Justice and Property	56	(2)
The Circumstances of Justice	58	(1)
The Idea of Convention	59	(5)
Examples and Supplementary Remarks	61	(3)
Justice as a Best Scheme of Conventions	64	(2)
The Two Stages of Development	66	(3)
The Critique of Rational Intuitionism	69	(15)
Introduction	69	(1)
Some of Clarke's Main Claims	70	(5)
The Content of Right and Wrong	75	(2)
Rational Intuitionism's Moral Psychology	77	(1)
Hume's Critique of Rational Intuitionism	78	(3)
Hume's Second Argument: Morality Not Demonstrable	81	(3)
The Judicious Spectator	84	(21)
Introduction	84	(1)
Hume's Account of Sympathy	85	(3)
The First Objection: The Idea of the Judicious Spectator	88	(3)
The Second Objection: Virtue in Rags Is Still Virtue	91	(2)
The Epistemological Role of the Moral Sentiments	93	(3)
Whether Hume Has a Conception of Practical Reason	96	(2)
The Concluding Section of the Treatise	98	(7)
Appendix: Hume's Disowning the Treatise	101	(4)
Leibniz
His Metaphysical Perfectionism	105	(18)
Introduction	105	(3)
Leibniz's Metaphysical Perfectionism	108	(3)
The Concept of a Perfection	111	(3)
Leibniz's Predicate-in-Subject Theory of Truth	114	(5)
Some Comments on Leibniz's Account of Truth	119	(4)
Spirits as Active Substances: Their Freedom	123	(20)
The Complete Individual Concept Includes Active Powers	123	(4)
Spirits as Individual Rational Substances	127	(4)
True Freedom	131	(3)
Reason, Judgment, and Will	134	(5)
A Note on the Practical Point of View	139	(4)
Kant
Groundwork: Preface and Part I	143	(19)
Introductory Comments	143	(3)
Some Points about the Preface: Paragraphs 11--13	146	(3)
The Idea of a Pure Will	149	(3)
The Main Argument of Groundwork I	152	(2)
The Absolute Value of a Good Will	154	(3)
The Special Purpose of Reason	157	(1)
Two Roles of the Good Will	158	(4)
The Categorical Imperative: The First Formulation	162	(19)
Introduction	162	(2)
Features of Ideal Moral Agents	164	(3)
The Four-Step CI-Procedure	167	(3)
Kant's Second Example: The Deceitful Promise	170	(2)
Kant's Fourth Example: The Maxim of Indifference	172	(3)
Two Limits on Information	175	(2)
The Structure of Motives	177	(4)
The Categorical Imperative: The Second Formulation	181	(19)
The Relation between the Formulations	181	(2)
Statements of the Second Formulation	183	(2)
Duties of Justice and Duties of Virtue	185	(2)
What Is Humanity?	187	(3)
The Negative Interpretation	190	(4)
The Positive Interpretation	194	(1)
Conclusion: Remarks on Groundwork II:46--49 (427--429)	195	(5)
The Categorical Imperative: The Third Formulation	200	(17)
Gaining Entry for the Moral Law	200	(3)
The Formulation of Autonomy and Its Interpretation	203	(2)
The Supremacy of Reason	205	(3)
The Realm of Ends	208	(3)
Bringing the Moral Law Nearer to Intuition	211	(3)
What Is the Analogy?	214	(3)
The Priority of Right and the Object of the Moral Law	217	(18)
Introduction	217	(2)
The First Three of Six Conceptions of the Good	219	(4)
The Second Three Conceptions of the Good	223	(3)
Autonomy and Heteronomy	226	(4)
The Priority of Right	230	(2)
A Note on True Human Needs	232	(3)
Moral Constructivism	235	(18)
Rational Intuitionism: A Final Look	235	(2)
Kant's Moral Constructivism	237	(1)
The Constructivist Procedure	238	(3)
An Observation and an Objection	241	(2)
Two Conceptions of Objectivity	243	(4)
The Categorical Imperative: In What Way Synthetic A Priori?	247	(6)
The Fact of Reason	253	(20)
Introduction	253	(2)
The First Fact of Reason Passage	255	(3)
The Second Passage: §§--8 of Chapter I of the Analytic	258	(3)
The Third Passage: Appendix I to Analytic I, Paragraphs 8--15	261	(3)
Why Kant Might Have Abandoned a Deduction for the Moral Law	264	(2)
What Kind of Authentication Does the Moral Law Have?	266	(2)
The Fifth and Sixth Fact of Reason Passages	268	(3)
Conclusion	271	(2)
The Moral Law as the Law of Freedom	273	(18)
Concluding Remarks on Constructivism and Due Reflection	273	(2)
The Two Points of View	275	(2)
Kant's Opposition to Leibniz on Freedom	277	(3)
Absolute Spontaneity	280	(2)
The Moral Law as a Law of Freedom	282	(3)
The Ideas of Freedom	285	(4)
Conclusion	289	(2)
The Moral Psychology of the Religion, Book I	291	(18)
The Three Predispositions	291	(3)
The Free Power of Choice	294	(4)
The Rational Representation of the Origin of Evil	298	(5)
The Manichean Moral Psychology	303	(3)
The Roots of Moral Motivation in Our Person	306	(3)
The Unity of Reason	309	(20)
The Practical Point of View	309	(2)
The Realm of Ends as Object of the Moral Law	311	(2)
The Highest Good as Object of the Moral Law	313	(4)
The Postulates of Vernunftglaube	317	(2)
The Content of Reasonable Faith	319	(3)
The Unity of Reason	322	(7)
Hegel
His Rechtsphilosophie	329	(20)
Introduction	329	(2)
Philosophy as Reconciliation	331	(5)
The Free Will	336	(4)
Private Property	340	(4)
Civil Society	344	(5)
Ethical Life and Liberalism	349	(24)
Sittlichkeit: The Account of Duty	349	(3)
Sittlichkeit: The State	352	(6)
Sittlichkeit: War and Peace	358	(4)
A Third Alternative	362	(3)
Hegel's Legacy as a Critic of Liberalism	365	(8)
Appendix: Course Outline	373	(4)
Index	377