1
/
of
1
OGB
From: Lotze's Outlines of Philosophy - PRACTICAL PHILIOSOPHY
From: Lotze's Outlines of Philosophy - PRACTICAL PHILIOSOPHY
Regular price
$1.99 USD
Regular price
Sale price
$1.99 USD
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Quantity
Couldn't load pickup availability
Scanned, proofed and corrected from the original hardcover edition for your reading pleasure. (Worth every penny!)
***
INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. The conflict of our needs, in part with the course of nature and in part with social conditions; the frustrating of our plans in life; and, finally, regret and the doubt how to escape from our own self-condemnation, — such are the inducements which, taken together, incite us to inquire: How are we to conduct ourselves so as at the same time to attain outward good fortune and inward peace?
This very inquiry involves the supposition, that in spite of the infinitely varied situations in the midst of which individuals are placed, there, nevertheless, exist certain rules for the attainment of this object, which admit of being expressed in universal form, and which have a universal validity.
It is the problem of Practical Philosophy to investigate these rules, and to combine them into a system. On the contrary, the application of them to the more special details of life is to be entrusted to practical tact, in precisely the same way as, for instance, the application of the general laws of mechanics to the circumstances of a particular case requires individual sagacity and a fortunate knack.
PROBLEMS OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY.
§ 2. The proper scope of Practical Philosophy, therefore, by no means includes merely those general propositions according to which the praiseworthiness or blameworthiness of the disposition is estimated, and a collection of which would deserve the more definite title of Morals or of Ethics. It rather comprehends, besides, the rules of that prudence of life which secures the acquisition of different forms of outward good. Yet the simple observation, that no outward good would satisfy us without the inward good of self-approbation, and, further, that only the shaping of our own mind, and not that of the outward world, stands directly within our control, determines at once the subordinate rank of the particular problems.
In the first place, those maxims are to be investigated by the observance of which our conduct acquires an approbation that is independent of all consequences. It is only after it has been established how in general one should and must conduct one's self, that the problem arises to discover those forms of life by means of which the greatest amount of external good can be realized in agreement with these laws, and at the same time with respect to the definite relations of the earthly life of man. In reference to this matter, philosophy must, of course, confine itself to the task of depicting certain definite ideals. The third problem which still remains — namely, the description of that knack by which success in realizing those ideals according to circumstances, as far as possible, is gained in actual life — can only be incidentally introduced, while its full solution must be committed to actual life.
***
INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. The conflict of our needs, in part with the course of nature and in part with social conditions; the frustrating of our plans in life; and, finally, regret and the doubt how to escape from our own self-condemnation, — such are the inducements which, taken together, incite us to inquire: How are we to conduct ourselves so as at the same time to attain outward good fortune and inward peace?
This very inquiry involves the supposition, that in spite of the infinitely varied situations in the midst of which individuals are placed, there, nevertheless, exist certain rules for the attainment of this object, which admit of being expressed in universal form, and which have a universal validity.
It is the problem of Practical Philosophy to investigate these rules, and to combine them into a system. On the contrary, the application of them to the more special details of life is to be entrusted to practical tact, in precisely the same way as, for instance, the application of the general laws of mechanics to the circumstances of a particular case requires individual sagacity and a fortunate knack.
PROBLEMS OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY.
§ 2. The proper scope of Practical Philosophy, therefore, by no means includes merely those general propositions according to which the praiseworthiness or blameworthiness of the disposition is estimated, and a collection of which would deserve the more definite title of Morals or of Ethics. It rather comprehends, besides, the rules of that prudence of life which secures the acquisition of different forms of outward good. Yet the simple observation, that no outward good would satisfy us without the inward good of self-approbation, and, further, that only the shaping of our own mind, and not that of the outward world, stands directly within our control, determines at once the subordinate rank of the particular problems.
In the first place, those maxims are to be investigated by the observance of which our conduct acquires an approbation that is independent of all consequences. It is only after it has been established how in general one should and must conduct one's self, that the problem arises to discover those forms of life by means of which the greatest amount of external good can be realized in agreement with these laws, and at the same time with respect to the definite relations of the earthly life of man. In reference to this matter, philosophy must, of course, confine itself to the task of depicting certain definite ideals. The third problem which still remains — namely, the description of that knack by which success in realizing those ideals according to circumstances, as far as possible, is gained in actual life — can only be incidentally introduced, while its full solution must be committed to actual life.
Share
