G E Moore: The Elements Of Ethics

Tom Regan author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Temple University Press,U.S.

Published:9th Apr '03

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

G E Moore: The Elements Of Ethics cover

Ten previously unpublished lectures showing Moore's position regarding ethics in relation to conduct in earlier work differs from the one presented in Principia

Asks the question what is good? This book contains discussions that range from Christian ethics and the possibility of free will.George Edward Moore is among this century's most influential philosophers. Perhaps best known for his \u0022defense of common sense,\u0022 he also made important contributions to metaphysics and theory of knowledge. But it is in ethics, and especially owing to the positions he develops in his Principia Ethica, first published in 1903, that his ideas have had their most enduring influence. A forerunner to this famous work, The Elements of Ethics is a series of ten unpublished lectures that were presented by Moore, then in his mid-twenties. The Elements shows that Principia Ethica did not spring fully-formed from Moore's pen but evolved slowly over time. In these lectures, Moore begins with the same question he asks in Principia Ethica: What is Good? Importantly, his answer is the same one he offers in Principia and many of its supporting arguments also appear, though sometimes in embryonic form. Moreover, in these lectures we also find sustained critiques of those who commit the \u0022naturalistic fallacy,\u0022 and of John Stuart Mill's commission of it in particular. In The Elements, however, Moore's position regarding ethics in relation to conduct differs in important respects from the one presented in Principia, and the former work contains important discussions, ranging from Christian ethics and the possibility of free will, not found in the latter.

"An important publication for philosophers specializing in twentieth-century philosophy or moral philosophy."-Library Journal "Scholars of Moore's philosophy will be grateful to Tom Regan for producing this volume."-Ethics "...indispensable for anyone who wishes to understand Moore's personal and philosophical developments. Regan enables us to see Moore working his way through positions we did not know he had considered so carefully, and thereby to obtain an enriched sense of what Moore is doing in Principia Ethica."-International Studies in Philosophy "This book does help to clarify some aspects of the development of Moore's thinking and so will interest mainly those who already have considerable familiarity with it."-Choice

ISBN: 9781592131945

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 25mm

Weight: unknown

248 pages