Synopses & Reviews
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries provide the tools to teach the history of modern moral philosophy. What makes this selection distinctive is that it covers not only the familiar figures - Hobbes, Hume, Butler, Bentham and Kant - but also the important but generally ignored writers: new translations of Nicole, Wolff, Crusius and d'Holbach; as well as substantial excerpts from natural law theorists such as Suarez, Grotius and Pufendorf; from rationalists such as Malebranche, Cudworth, Spinoza and Leibniz; from Epicurean writers such as Gassendi; and from their 'moral sense' and other critics: Shaftesbury, Hutcheson and Price. In all, thirty-two authors are represented. The selections are preceded by a substantial contextual introduction, while each individual selection has a separate introduction, annotation and bibliography, and has been chosen for its centrality to a given philosopher's writings. The anthology can be used as an introductory survey or for more intensive graduate work as well. It can also be used as supplemental reading for courses on modern European intellectual history, the history of modern political thought, and the history of religious thought.
Review
"This collection is so significant a contribution to our understanding of the development of moral thought and the relation of religion and morality, so nearly perfect an historical anthology, that one hesitates to mention any reservations....this anthology belongs in every university library," Thomas Kennedy, Religious Studies Review
Synopsis
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries provide the tools to teach the history of modern moral philosophy. What makes this selection distinctive is that it covers not only the familiar figures - Hobbes, Hume, Butler, Bentham and Kant - but also the important but generally ignored writers: new translations of Nicole, Wolff, Crusius and d'Holbach; as well as substantial excerpts from natural law theorists such as Suarez, Grotius and Pufendorf; from rationalists such as Malebranche, Cudworth, Spinoza and Leibniz; from Epicurean writers such as Gassendi; and from their 'moral sense' and other critics: Shaftesbury, Hutcheson and Price. In all, thirty-two authors are represented. The selections are preceded by a substantial contextual introduction, while each individual selection has a separate introduction, annotation and bibliography, and has been chosen for its centrality to a given philosopher's writings.
Table of Contents
'III. EPICUREANS AND EGOISTS Gassendi: Three Discourses of Happiness Nicole: Of Charity and Self-Love Mandeville: The Fable of the Bees Enquiry into the Origin of Honour Gay: Concerning the Fundamental Principle of Virtue or Morality Helvetius: One the Mind d\'Holbach: Universal Morality System of Nature Paley: Moral and Political Philosophy Bentham: Introductions to the Principles of Morals and Legislation IV. AUTONOMY AND RESPONSIBILITY Shaftesbury: An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humor Soliloquy, or Advice to an Author An Inquiry concerning Virtue or Merit Hutcheson: An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue Butler: Sermons Hume: An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals Crusius: Guide to Rational Living Price: In Morals Rousseau: Discourse on the Origins of Inequality On the Social Contract Emile Reid: Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind Kant: Notes on Lectures on the Metaphysics of Morals, 1793-94 Index of names.\n
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