History of (Modern) Ethics
Philosophy 433 is a course in the history of ethics in the early
modern period, somewhat arbitrarily beginning with Hobbes and ending
with Nietzsche. This page has web links for the authors we read in the
course. For a discussion of the views of some of these writers (Hobbes,
Hutcheson, Butler, and Hume) on normativity and obligation see my The
British
Moralists and the Internal 'Ought': 1640-1740.
A syllabus, assignments, lecture outlines, etc., for Philosophy 433 can
be found on the Course Materials Page.
Links and Texts for Philosophy 433
Thomas Hobbes
Electronic texts of: Leviathan
De Cive
The Elements
of Law
Canonical electronic versions of virtually all of Hobbes's moral and
political works on Past Masters can be accessed by University of
Michigan users through the Library's Search Tools.
Sharon Lloyd's entry on Hobbes can be found in the Stanford
Encylopedia of Philosophy. You may also want to consult Aubrey's
A Brief Life of Thomas Hobbes, the Hobbes Wikipedia
entry, or the Hobbes page
at the
New School. Also, to test Hobbes's (and your!) theories, play Prisoner's Dilemma
against a computer . Finally, here is a copy of a paper of
mine, which is recommended for graduate students: Normativity
and Projection in Hobbes's Leviathan
Francis Hutcheson
Electronic texts
of: An Inquiry
into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue
An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the
Passions and Affections, with Illustrations on the Moral Sense
The New
School's Hutcheson page has wonderful resources. See also the Hutcheson
Wikipedia entry and Alexander's Broadie's entry on 18th-century
Scottish Philosophy in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. There is also a chapter on
Hutcheson in McCosh's classic Scottish
Philosophy.
Joseph Butler
Electronic text
of: Semons on Human Nature (all
fifteen!)
There is a Wikipedia
entry on Butler and also one in the Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
David Hume
Electronic texts
of: A
Treatise of Human Nature An
Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
Canonical versions of Hume's philosophical writings are available on
Past Masters to Univeristy of Michigan users through the Library's Search Tools.
Also check out Rachel Cohon's article on Hume's Moral Philosophy
at the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Ted Morris's general
article on Hume. The Wikipedia Hume entry
is especially rich, as is the New School Hume
page, and you can also find interesting stuff relating to Hume at The Hume Society.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Electronic texts of all of The Social
Contract and Discourse
on the
Origin of Inequality.
There is an excellent Wikipedia
entry on Rousseau, and the New
School's Rousseau
page is also terrific.
Immanuel Kant
Publicly accessible (although not excellent
translations of): The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of
Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, Metaphysics of Morals, and
many others.
Wikipedia has an excellent
Kant entry; see also Robert Johnson's
article on Kant's ethics for the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. University of Michigan users
can get all of Kan'ts works in German on Past Masters through the UM Library.
For other sources and links, see Kant on the Web.
Also, the Kant Attack
Ad (by Committee to Elect Friedrich Nietzsche). (To see Kant
and Nietzsche on the same team, see Monty Python's Greece
vs. Germany World Cup match.)
Adam Smith
Electronic
texts of Smiths works, including: The Theory of Moral Sentiments and
The Wealth of
Nations.
There is an excellent Wikipedia Smith entry.
See also Alexander Broadie's discussion of Smith's moral philosophy in his Stanford Encyclopedia article on
the Scottish Enlightenment.
Jeremy Bentham
Electronic
text of: Introduction
to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.
Michigan users can find Bentham's works through Past Masters at the
Library's Search Tools.
The Wikipedia
Bentham entry is terrific, and the New School's
Bentham page, though a little corrupted, is still excellent.
You can also find information on the major effort to publish all of
Bentham's works at the
Bentham Project. For something completely different, here is a view of
Bentham, or at least of as much of him as there currently is.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Electronic text of: The
Genealogy of Morals.
Wikipedia has an amazingly detailed Nietzsche entry.
See also Brian
Leiter's article on Nietzsche's moral and political philosophy in
the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. Also, the Nietzsche Attack Ad
(By Committee to Elect Immanuel Kant). (And again,
Nietzsche and Kant on the same side in Monty Python's Greece
vs. Germany World Cup match.)
Return to Stephen
Darwall's Not-Yet-Cool Home Page.
This page last revised on December 20, 2007.