T. H. Green's Moral and Political Philosophy : A Phenomenological Perspective

by Maria Dimova-Cookson

• ISBN13: 9780333914458
• ISBN10: 0333914457
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2001-10-05
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book offers a new phenomenological interpretation of T.H. Green's (1836-1882) philosophy and political theory. By analyzing his theory of human practice, the moral idea, the common good, freedom and human rights, the book demonstrates that Green joins the same tradition as Kantian and Husserlian transcendentalism. The book offers a reconstruction of Green's idealism and demonstrates its potential to address contemporary debates on the nature of moral agency, positive and negative freedom and on justifying human rights.

Author Biography

Maria Dimova-Cookson is British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Politics, Law and Society, University College London.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations	x
Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(4)
Green's view of the method of moral philosophy	5	(4)
Husserl's critique of the sciences	9	(6)
Linking the phenomenological reduction to a theory of human practice	15	(5)
Applying the phenomenological reduction to moral philosophy	20	(3)
Green's Transcendental Theory of Human Practice	23	(32)
Defining the term 'transcendental'	24	(3)
Green's metaphysics of knowledge	27	(5)
Hume's discovery of the 'world of spirit'	32	(8)
The spiritual principle that underpins human practice, or Green's theory of the will	40	(5)
Why Green's principle is in fact a transcendental rule	45	(3)
Applications of Green's transcendental rule	48	(3)
The difference between transcendentalism and spiritual determinism	51	(4)
Green's Phenomenological Moral Theory	55	(26)
Similarities between Green and the utilitarians	57	(4)
The difference between the pursuit of pleasure and the pursuit of the moral good	61	(3)
The moral ideal as the perfection of man	64	(3)
The phenomenological circle	67	(3)
The change of perspective	70	(2)
Between deontology and consequentialism	72	(2)
Is it the individual or her perfection that is an end in itself?	74	(2)
Moral vulnerability and negative morality	76	(2)
Conclusion	78	(3)
Green's Theory of the Common Good	81	(24)
Outlining the two perspectives in defining the common good	83	(2)
The common good as personal moral growth	85	(2)
The salvation argument: criticisms and defence	87	(5)
The unique position of the self	92	(5)
The loss of the concept of the ordinary good	97	(3)
The common good in the second sense: as a society of equals	100	(2)
Conclusion	102	(3)
Positive and Negative Freedom: Green's Contribution to the Debate	105	(24)
Juristic freedom and moral freedom	108	(7)
Positive freedom and negative freedom	115	(9)
Which freedom is more important?	124	(3)
Conclusion	127	(2)
Rights in Green's Political Theory: Universal or Historical?	129	(20)
The concept of social recognition	132	(1)
Practical social recognition	133	(4)
Metaphysical social recognition	137	(3)
Green's theories of human agency and morality: need as a sufficient justification of rights	140	(3)
Rights as an expression of negative freedom: negative and positive morality	143	(2)
Rights - universal or historical?	145	(1)
Conclusion: reconciling the two lines of thought in Green's philosophy	146	(3)
Conclusion	149	(2)
Notes	151	(16)
Bibliography	167	(6)
Index	173