Henry Sidgwick
Seen from the point of view of the universe, everyone’s happiness counts equally – but reason cannot prove that self-interest should give way to it.
Placement
The Methods of Ethics compares egoism, intuitionism and utilitarianism systematically; a bridge to Moore, Rawls and Parfit.
Key ideas
- Point of view of the universe
- Dualism of practical reason
Influence
Influenced by 3
Immanuel Kant
influenced by
In The Methods of Ethics (1874) Sidgwick accepted Kant’s universalisability principle as a self-evident axiom of justice, holding that alone it cannot settle what we ought to do. H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics (1874); “The Kantian Conception of Free Will”, Mind (1888); SEP “Henry Sidgwick”
Evidence: AI draft
Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804
Jeremy Bentham
influenced by
Sidgwick took Bentham’s utilitarianism, with its impartial count of everyone’s happiness, as one of the three methods he examined in The Methods of Ethics (1874). H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics (1874); Outlines of the History of Ethics (1886); SEP “Henry Sidgwick”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Jeremy Bentham › 1748–1832
John Stuart Mill
influenced by
In the autobiographical preface to The Methods of Ethics (6th ed., 1901) Sidgwick recalled how Mill’s utilitarianism relieved him of arbitrary moral rules, though he doubted Mill’s proof. H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics (6th ed., 1901), preface; SEP “Henry Sidgwick”
Evidence: AI draft
John Stuart Mill › 1806–1873
Influenced 4
G. E. Moore
influenced
Moore credited Sidgwick, his Cambridge teacher, with seeing that the basic ethical notion is indefinable, and argued at length with the Methods of Ethics in Principia Ethica (1903). G. E. Moore, Principia Ethica (1903); H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics (1874); SEP “Henry Sidgwick”; SEP “Moore’s Moral Philosophy”
Evidence: AI draft
G. E. Moore › 1873–1958
J. J. C. Smart
influenced
Smart rested his act utilitarianism on an ultimate attitude of generalised benevolence, close to Sidgwick’s axiom of benevolence (‘An Outline of a System of Utilitarian Ethics’, 1961). J. J. C. Smart, An Outline of a System of Utilitarian Ethics (1961); J. J. C. Smart and B. Williams, Utilitarianism: For and Against (1973); SEP “Henry Sidgwick”
Evidence: AI draft
J. J. C. Smart › 1920–2012
Derek Parfit
influenced
Parfit took up Sidgwick’s ‘dualism of practical reason’ between egoism and impartial benevolence and sought to resolve it (Reasons and Persons, 1984; On What Matters, 2011). D. Parfit, Reasons and Persons (1984); On What Matters (2011); H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics (1874); SEP “Henry Sidgwick”
Evidence: AI draft
Derek Parfit › 1942–2017
Peter Singer
influenced
With de Lazari-Radek, Singer defended Sidgwick’s utilitarianism, his ‘point of view of the universe’ and intuitionist method, and argued the dualism of practical reason can be resolved (2014). K. de Lazari-Radek and P. Singer, The Point of View of the Universe: Sidgwick and Contemporary Ethics (2014); SEP “Henry Sidgwick”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Peter Singer › b. 1946
Criticism
Criticized by 2
G. E. M. Anscombe
criticised by
Anscombe faulted Sidgwick for denying any moral difference between intended and foreseen consequences, the step that opened the way to what she named ‘consequentialism’ (‘Modern Moral Philosophy’, 1958). G. E. M. Anscombe, “Modern Moral Philosophy”, Philosophy 33 (1958), 1–19; H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics (1874)
Evidence: AI draft
G. E. M. Anscombe › 1919–2001
John Rawls influenced
influenced
Rawls modelled his comparison of moral conceptions on Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics (A Theory of Justice, 1971) and wrote a foreword to its 1981 reissue. J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971); foreword to H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics, 7th ed. (1981)
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
Rawls took Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics as the classic statement of utilitarianism, whose impartial sympathetic spectator merges all persons into one (A Theory of Justice, 1971). J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971), §§ 5, 30; foreword to H. Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics, 7th ed. (1981)
Evidence: AI draft
John Rawls › 1921–2002
Works
Egoism, intuitionism, utilitarianism – in systematic comparison.
Position
Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics examines with great care the three main ways in which we decide what we ought to do: egoism, intuitionism and utilitarianism. He found that our considered moral intuitions, properly refined, support utilitarianism, and that reason recognises self-evident axioms such as impartiality – the good of one person counts no more, from “the point of view of the universe”, than that of another. Yet he could not refute egoism, and saw a “dualism of practical reason” between self-interest and universal benevolence. His careful method of weighing intuitions made him a direct ancestor of Moore, Rawls, Parfit and Singer.
Life & context
Born in Skipton, Yorkshire, in 1838, Henry Sidgwick studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and taught there. In 1869 he resigned his fellowship because he could no longer affirm the Anglican articles of faith. In 1883 he became Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy. He helped found Newnham College for women and co-founded the Society for Psychical Research. He died in 1900.
Further main works
- Principles of Political Economy (1883)
- Outlines of the History of Ethics (1886)
- The Elements of Politics (1891)
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