A Handbook of Ethical Theory

CONTENTS

PART I – THE ACCEPTED CONTENT OF MORAL
CHAPTER I. IS THERE AN ACCEPTED CONTENT?
The Point in Dispute.
What Constitutes Substantial Agreement?
Dogmatic Assumption.
CHAPTER II. THE CODES OF COMMUNITIES
The Codes of Communities: Justice.
The Codes of Communities: Veracity.
The Codes of Communities: the Common Good.
CHAPTER III. THE CODES OF THE MORALISTS
The Moralists.
Epicurean and Stoic.
Plato; Aristotle; the Church.
Later Lists of the Virtues.
The Stretching of Moral Concepts.
The Reflective Mind and the Moral Codes.

PART II – ETHICS AS SCIENCE
CHAPTER IV. THE AWAKENING TO REFLECTION
The Dogmatism of the Natural Man.
The Awakening.
CHAPTER V. ETHICAL METHOD
Inductive and Deductive Method. 16 The Authority of the "Given."
CHAPTER VI. THE MATERIALS OF ETHICS
How the Moralist should Proceed.
The Philosopher as Moralist.
CHAPTER VII. THE AIM OF ETHICS AS SCIENCE
The Appeal to Reason.
The Appeal to Reason Justified.

PART III – MAN AND HIS ENVIRONMENT
CHAPTER VIII. MAN'S NATURE
The Background of Actions.
Man's Nature.
How Discover Man's Nature?
CHAPTER IX. MAN'S MATERIAL ENVIRONMENT
The Struggle with Nature.
The Conquests of the Mind.
The Conquest of Nature and the Well-being of Man.
CHAPTER X. MAN'S SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Man is Assigned his Place.
Varieties of the Social Order.
Social Organization.
Social Order and Human Will.

PART IV - THE REALM OF ENDS
CHAPTER XI. IMPULSE, DESIRE, AND WILL
Impulse.
Desire.
Desire of the Unattainable.
Will.
Desire and Will not Identical.
The Will and Deferred Action.
CHAPTER XII. THE PERMANENT WILL
Consciously Chosen Ends.
Ends not Consciously Chosen.
The Choice of Ideals.
CHAPTER XIII. THE OBJECT IN DESIRE AND WILL
The Object as End to be Realized.
Human Nature and the Objects Chosen.
The Instincts and Impulses of Man.
The Study of Man's Instincts Important.
The Bewildering Multiplicity of the Objects of Desire, and the Effort to Find an Underlying Unity.
CHAPTER XIV. INTENTION AND MOTIVE
Complex Ends.
Intention.
Motive.
Ethical Significance of Intention and Motive.
CHAPTER XV. FEELING AS MOTIVE
Feeling.
Feeling and Action.
Feeling as Object.
Freedom as Object.
CHAPTER XVI. RATIONALITY AND WILL
The Irrational Will.
One View of Reason.
Dominant and Subordinate Desires.
The Harmonization of Desires.
Varieties of Dominant Ends.
An Objection Answered.
This View of Reason Misconceived.
Another View of Reason.

PART V – THE SOCIAL WILL
CHAPTER XVII. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOCIAL WILL
What is the Social Will?
Social Will and Social Habits.
Social Will and Social Organization.
The Social Will and Ideal Ends.
The Permanent Social Will.
CHAPTER XVIII. EXPRESSIONS OF THE SOCIAL WILL
Custom.
The Ground for the Authority of Custom.
The Origin and the Persistence of Customs.
Law.
Public Opinion.
CHAPTER XIX. THE SHARERS IN THE SOCIAL WILL
The Community.
The Community and the Dead.
The Community and the Supernatural.
Religion and the Community.
The Spread of the Community.

PART VI – THE REAL SOCIAL WILL
CHAPTER XX. THE IMPERFECT SOCIAL WILL
The Apparent and the Real Social Will.
The Will of the Majority.
Ignorance and Error and the Social Will.
Heedlessness and the Social Will.
Rational Elements in the Irrational Will.
The Social Will and the Selfishness of the Individual.
CHAPTER XXI. THE RATIONAL SOCIAL WILL
Reasonable Ends.
An Objection Answered.
Reasonable Social Ends.
The Ethics of Reason.
The Development of Civilization.
CHAPTER XXII. THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE SOCIAL WILL
Man's Multiple Allegiance.
The Appeal to Reason.
The Ethics of Reason and the Varying Moral Codes.

PART VII – THE SCHOOLS OF THE MORALISTS
CHAPTER XXIII. INTUITIONISM
What is it?
Varieties of Intuitionism.
Arguments for Intuitionism.
Arguments against Intuitionism.
The Value of Moral Intuitions.
CHAPTER XXIV. EGOISM
What is Egoism?
Crass Egoisms.
Equivocal Egoism?
What is Meant by the Self?
Egoism and the Broader Self.
Egoism not Unavoidable.
Varieties of Egoism.
The Arguments for Egoism.
The Argument against Egoism.
The Moralist's Interest in Egoism.
CHAPTER XXV. UTILITARIANISM
What is Utilitarianism?
Bentham's Doctrine.
The Doctrine of J. S. Mill.
The Argument for Utilitarianism.
The Distribution of Happiness.
The Calculus of Pleasures.
The Difficulties of Other Schools...

CHAPTER XXVI. NATURE to CHAPTER XXXIV. THE ETHICS OF THE STATE