Henry Sidgwick

1838-1900 · English · Ethics, Metaethics, Political Philosophy

The good of any one individual is of no more importance, from the point of view (if I may say so) of the Universe, than the good of any other.

Henry Sidgwick wrote what C.D. Broad called, on the whole, the best book on moral theory ever written — The Methods of Ethics (1874) — and he wrote it against his own hopes. He wanted ethics to be a rational science, as certain in its foundations as arithmetic. He spent the book testing the three great "methods" by which people actually reason about what they ought to do: egoism (seek your own greatest happiness), intuitionism (follow the moral rules that common sense holds self-evident), and utilitarianism (promote the greatest happiness of all). His procedure was scrupulous to a fault — he…

Topics Henry Sidgwick addresses

• the methods of ethics
• rational egoism
• universalistic hedonism
• utilitarianism
• intuitionism
• the dualism of practical reason
• the self-evident axioms
• philosophical intuitionism
• the axiom of justice
• the axiom of prudence
• the axiom of rational benevolence
• the point of view of the universe
• ethical hedonism
• psychological hedonism
• the paradox of hedonism
• pleasure as the ultimate good
• common-sense morality
• unconscious utilitarianism
• the systematization of common sense
• esoteric morality
• government-house utilitarianism
• the reconciliation of methods
• the conditions of a self-evident intuition
• impartiality and the good of all

Questions to put to Henry Sidgwick

The Three Methods and Their Reconciliation

• What do you mean by a 'method' of ethics?
• Why do you think there are exactly three methods of ethics?
• How do intuitionism and utilitarianism turn out to be compatible?
• What does it mean that common-sense morality is 'unconscious utilitarianism'?
• Why can't the common-sense maxims settle conflicts among themselves?

Philosophical Intuitionism and Self-Evidence

• What are the four conditions a principle must meet to be genuinely self-evident?
• What's the difference between your intuitionism and the kind that just appeals to common moral rules?
• Can you explain the axiom of rational benevolence?
• What do you mean by 'the point of view of the universe'?
• How does the axiom of justice differ from the axiom of prudence?

Hedonism and the Ultimate Good

• Why do you think pleasure is the only thing good in itself?
• What's the difference between psychological hedonism and ethical hedonism?
• Can you explain the paradox of hedonism?
• How broadly should we understand 'pleasure' or 'desirable consciousness'?
• Why isn't virtue or knowledge good in itself, apart from the pleasure it brings?

The Dualism of Practical Reason

• What is the dualism of practical reason?
• Why do you think rational egoism is self-evident alongside rational benevolence?
• How can reason command me to sacrifice my own good for the good of all?
• What would it take to resolve the dualism between duty and self-interest?
• Why did you conclude that the Cosmos of Duty is reduced to a Chaos?

Esoteric Morality and Utilitarian Practice

• Can it ever be right to do something you shouldn't publicly recommend?
• How do you defend what critics call 'Government House utilitarianism'?
• When would the general happiness be better served by keeping utilitarian reasoning private?
• Doesn't esoteric morality give elites a license to manipulate everyone else?
• How should a utilitarian decide when to follow common-sense rules versus calculating directly?

Psychical Research and the Moral Order

• Why did you devote so much effort to psychical research?
• What connection did you see between proving an afterlife and resolving the dualism of practical reason?
• What did you conclude from your decades of investigating spiritualism and telepathy?
• How would evidence of a moral government of the universe change ethics?

Converse with Henry Sidgwick on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in Henry Sidgwick's own writing, cited to the page.