{"product_id":"2940012444608","title":"UTILITARIANISM","description":"CONTENTS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I. GENERAL REMARKS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER II. WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER III. OF THE ULTIMATE SANCTION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER IV. OF WHAT SORT OF PROOF THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY IS\u003cbr\u003eSUSCEPTIBLE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER V. OF THE CONNEXION BETWEEN JUSTICE AND UTILITY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUTILITARIANISM.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGENERAL REMARKS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are few circumstances among those which make up the present\u003cbr\u003econdition of human knowledge, more unlike what might have been expected,\u003cbr\u003eor more significant of the backward state in which speculation on the\u003cbr\u003emost important subjects still lingers, than the little progress which\u003cbr\u003ehas been made in the decision of the controversy respecting the\u003cbr\u003ecriterion of right and wrong. From the dawn of philosophy, the question\u003cbr\u003econcerning the _summum bonum_, or, what is the same thing, concerning\u003cbr\u003ethe foundation of morality, has been accounted the main problem in\u003cbr\u003especulative thought, has occupied the most gifted intellects, and\u003cbr\u003edivided them into sects and schools, carrying on a vigorous warfare\u003cbr\u003eagainst one another. And after more than two thousand years the same\u003cbr\u003ediscussions continue, philosophers are still ranged under the same\u003cbr\u003econtending banners, and neither thinkers nor mankind at large seem\u003cbr\u003enearer to being unanimous on the subject, than when the youth Socrates\u003cbr\u003elistened to the old Protagoras, and asserted (if Plato's dialogue be\u003cbr\u003egrounded on a real conversation) the theory of utilitarianism against\u003cbr\u003ethe popular morality of the so-called sophist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is true that similar confusion and uncertainty, and in some cases\u003cbr\u003esimilar discordance, exist respecting the first principles of all the\u003cbr\u003esciences, not excepting that which is deemed the most certain of them,\u003cbr\u003emathematics; without much impairing, generally indeed without impairing\u003cbr\u003eat all, the trustworthiness of the conclusions of those sciences. An\u003cbr\u003eapparent anomaly, the explanation of which is, that the detailed\u003cbr\u003edoctrines of a science are not usually deduced from, nor depend for\u003cbr\u003etheir evidence upon, what are called its first principles. Were it not\u003cbr\u003eso, there would be no science more precarious, or whose conclusions were\u003cbr\u003emore insufficiently made out, than algebra; which derives none of its\u003cbr\u003ecertainty from what are commonly taught to learners as its elements,\u003cbr\u003esince these, as laid down by some of its most eminent teachers, are as\u003cbr\u003efull of fictions as English law, and of mysteries as theology. The\u003cbr\u003etruths which are ultimately accepted as the first principles of a\u003cbr\u003escience, are really the last results of metaphysical analysis, practised\u003cbr\u003eon the elementary notions with which the science is conversant; and\u003cbr\u003etheir relation to the science is not that of foundations to an edifice,\u003cbr\u003ebut of roots to a tree, which may perform their office equally well\u003cbr\u003ethough they be never dug down to and exposed to light. But though in\u003cbr\u003escience the particular truths precede the general theory, the contrary\u003cbr\u003emight be expected to be the case with a practical art, such as morals or\u003cbr\u003elegislation. All action is for the sake of some end, and rules of\u003cbr\u003eaction, it seems natural to suppose, must take their whole character\u003cbr\u003eand colour from the end to which they are subservient. When we engage in\u003cbr\u003ea pursuit, a clear and precise conception of what we are pursuing would\u003cbr\u003eseem to be the first thing we need, instead of the last we are to look\u003cbr\u003eforward to. A test of right and wrong must be the means, one would\u003cbr\u003ethink, of ascertaining what is right or wrong, and not a consequence of\u003cbr\u003ehaving already ascertained it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe difficulty is not avoided by having recourse to the popular theory\u003cbr\u003eof a natural faculty, a sense or instinct, informing us of right and\u003cbr\u003ewrong. For--besides that the existence of such a moral instinct is\u003cbr\u003eitself one of the matters in dispute--those believers in it who have any\u003cbr\u003epretensions to philosophy, have been obliged to abandon the idea that it\u003cbr\u003ediscerns what is right or wrong in the particular case in hand, as our\u003cbr\u003eother senses discern the sight or sound actually present. Our moral\u003cbr\u003efaculty, according to all those of its interpreters who are entitled to\u003cbr\u003ethe name of thinkers, supplies us only with the general principles of\u003cbr\u003emoral judgments; it is a branch of our reason, not of our sensitive\u003cbr\u003efaculty; and must be looked to for the abstract doctrines of morality,\u003cbr\u003enot for perception of it in the concrete. The intuitive, no less than\u003cbr\u003ewhat may be termed the inductive, school of ethics, insists on the\u003cbr\u003enecessity of general laws. They both agree that the morality of an\u003cbr\u003eindividual action is not a question of direct perception, but of the\u003cbr\u003eapplication of a law to an individual case.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47073459011824,"sku":"2940012444608","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012444608_p0.jpg?v=1763569085","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012444608","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}