Susanna Newcome and the Origins of Utilitarianism

Utilitas ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Moral Theory ◽  
History Of Ethics ◽  
Right Action ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Two Stages

Abstract This article provides the first systematic interpretation of the moral theory developed in Newcome's Enquiry into the Evidence of the Christian Religion (1728, revised 1732). More importantly, it shows that Newcome's views constitute a valuable but overlooked contribution to the development of utilitarianism. Indeed, she is arguably the first utilitarian. Her ethical views are considered in two stages. The article first explores her hedonist approach to the good and then turns to her consequentialist account of right action. The article then situates Newcome's work within the context of the pre-Bentham utilitarian movement. Strikingly, Newcome lived and worked in close proximity to other prominent early utilitarians and was well positioned to have exerted an influence on the development of their views. Newcome has never been discussed in connection with the history of ethics. This article constitutes an argument for her inclusion in our narratives about the development of a major moral theory.

scholarly journals „ETIKA“, „MORALĖ“ IR AUGUSTINO LIBERUM ARBITRIUM

Problemos ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 74-85
Author(s):  
Kerem Eksen
Keyword(s):  
Free Choice ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Alasdair Macintyre ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
History Of Ethics ◽  
Right Action ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Shed Light

Straipsnyje analizuojama A. MacIntyre’o ir B. Williamso pasiūlyta terminologinė „etikos“ ir „moralės“ skirtis. Ši skirtis kol kas netapo etikos diskurso standartu, tačiau ji neabejotinai paskatino vaisingus filosofų debatus svarstant šiuolaikinius moralės filosofijos klausimus, interpretuojant etikos istoriją. Julia Annas, viena ryškesnių šių debatų dalyvių, pateikė išsamią skirties kritiką. Straipsnyje kritiškai analizuojama Annas argumentacija, ji vertinama aptariant vieną idėjų istorijos momentą – Augustino Liberum Arbitrium – ir siekiama naujai pažvelgti į minėtą skirtį ir jos reikšmę etinio diskurso istorijoje. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad Augustino Liberum Arbitrium reikšmė etikos istorijoje sietina su perėjimu nuo graikiškosios etikos prie perspektyvos, siejamos su moralės terminu. Parodoma, kaip Augustinas, originaliai vartodamas valios (voluntas) sąvoką, perorganizavo etikos lauką, naujoviškai apibrėžė laimės (beatitudo) ir teisingo veiksmo sąryšį. Taip demonstruojama, kad etikos ir moralės skirtis iš esmės grindžia dvi etikos diskurso paradigmas ir yra labai vaisinga, padedanti suprasti etikos lauko transformaciją į tuos pavidalus, kuriais klausimus apie apie žmogaus veiksmus kelia vėlesnės kartos.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: etika, moralė, Augustinas, valia, eudaimonia, teisingas veiksmas.“Ethics”, “Morality” and Augustinean Liberum ArbitriumKerem Eksen SummaryThe present paper aims at a reconsideration of the terminological distinction – postulated by eminent contemporary thinkers such as Alasdair MacIntyre and Bernard Williams – between “ethics” and “morality”. Although this distinction has not been settled as a standard*, there is no doubt that it incited fruitful debates relating to the contemporary issues of moral philosophy as well as the history of ethics. Julia Annas, to take one considerable example, presented a full-fledged criticism of the distinction and touched upon crucial questions**. In the following pages, we shall take the general argument of Annas as our starting-point, and reevaluate it with reference to a particular moment in the history of ideas, in order to shed light on the proposed distinction. To this end, we shall focus on the philosophy of Augustine, more precisely on his De Libero Arbitrio (On Free Choice), with the aim of comprehending the novelty of his contribution to the history of ethics. We shall show how Augustine, through his original usage of the concept of voluntas (will), reorganized the sphere of ethics and redefined the relationship between happiness (beatitudo) and right action. We will thereby illustrate that the ethics / morality distinction is highly illuminating for getting the real sense of this process of redefinition and reorganization, as well as the broader transformation that it triggered in the way human action will be problematized by later generations.Keywords: ethics, morality, Augustine, will, eudaimonia, right action.

Spinoza’s Ethical Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Moral Significance ◽  
Philosophical Naturalism ◽  
History Of Ethics ◽  
Virtuous Character ◽  
History Of ◽  
Good And Evil

This chapter analyzes Spinoza’s ethical theory in the context of his philosophical naturalism, his doctrine that the actual essence of each thing is its striving for self-preservation (conatus), and his psychology of the emotions as it concerns both “bondage to the passions” and the active emotions such as intellectual joy. It explains how Spinoza’s ethical precepts are expressed chiefly through demonstrated propositions about good and evil, virtue, the guidance of reason, and “the free man.” Particular attention is given to questions about (1) the meaning of ethical language, (2) the nature of the good, (3) the practicality of reason, (4) the role of virtuous character, (5) the requirements for freedom and moral responsibility (especially in light of his necessitarianism), and (6) the possibility and moral significance of altruism. The chapter concludes by briefly assessing the significance of Spinoza’s ethical theory and its place in the history of ethics.

Presbyterians and Ethics

2019 ◽  
pp. 525-537
Author(s):  
Mark Douglas
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Great Awakening ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
Second Great Awakening ◽  
World War ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
History Of Ethics ◽  
Presbyterian Church ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of

The history of ethics in the Presbyterian Church has been shaped by the theological commitments of Reformed theology, the church’s ecumenical and interreligious encounters, its interactions with the wider cultures in which it functions, and its global scope. Consequently, Presbyterian ethics have become increasingly diverse, culturally diffused, ecumenically directed, and frequently divisive. That said, its history can helpfully be divided into three lengthy periods. In the first (roughly from the church’s origins in 1559 to the Second Great Awakening in the early nineteenth century), theology, ethics, and politics are so interwound that distinguishing one from the others is difficult. In the second (roughly from the Second Great Awakening to the end of World War II), moral concerns emerge as forces that drive the church’s theology and polity. And in the third (for which proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 might be a heuristically helpful starting point), ethics increasingly functions in ways that are only loosely tethered to either Reformed theology or polity. The strength of the church’s social witness, the consistency of its global engagements, and the failings of its internecine strife are all evident during its five-hundred-year history.

Metal burial: Understanding caching behaviour and contact material culture in Australia's NE Kimberley

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-52
Author(s):  
Sam Harper ◽  
Ian Waina ◽  
Ambrose Chalarimeri ◽  
Sven Ouzman ◽  
Martin Porr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Contact Material ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Assemblage Theory ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Burials

This paper explores identity and the recursive impacts of cross-cultural colonial encounters on individuals, cultural materials, and cultural practices in 20th-century northern Australia. We focus on an assemblage of cached metal objects and associated cultural materials that embody both Aboriginal tradition and innovation. These cultural materials were wrapped in paperbark and placed within a ring of stones, a bundling practice also seen in human burials in this region. This ‘cache' is located in close proximity to rockshelters with rich, superimposed Aboriginal rock art compositions. However, the cache shelter has no visible art, despite available wall space. The site shows the utilisation of metal objects as new raw materials that use traditional techniques to manufacture a ground edge metal axe and to sharpen metal rods into spears. We contextualise these objects and their hypothesised owner(s) within narratives of invasion/contact and the ensuing pastoral history of this region. Assemblage theory affords us an appropriate theoretical lens through which to bring people, places, objects, and time into conversation.

Plastic deformations in kyanites by tectonometamorphic processes: a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study

2009 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. D. Gatta ◽  
N. Rotiroti ◽  
M. Zucali
Keyword(s):  
Single Crystal ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Plastic Deformations ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Deformational History ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Elliptical Section ◽  
History Of ◽  
Diffraction Patterns ◽  
Two Stages

AbstractThe crystalch emistry and crystal structure of naturalky anite crystals from the Eclogitic Micaschists Complex of the Sesia-Lanzo Zone, Western Italian Alps, have been investigated by means of optical microscopy, wavelength dispersive X-ray microanalysis, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The association of kyanite + garnet + phengitic-mica + chloritoid suggests that the eclogite-facies stages occurred at P ≤ 2.1 GPa and T ≤ 650ºC. Kyanite grains are large (cm-sized) porphyroblasts grown dynamically during one of the deformational events related to the subduction of the Austroalpine continentalcr ust. Under the polarizing microscope, kyanite grains show almost homogeneous cores, whereas rims are sometimes symplectitic aggregates of quartz and kyanite, confirming at least two stages of growth most likely related to the multistage deformational history of these rocks. Chemical analysis shows that Fe3+ is the major substituting cation for Al3+, ranging between 0.038 and 0.067 a.p.f.u.The single-crystal X-ray diffraction investigation of the kyanites shows severely textured patterns on the (h0l)*-plane. Such evidence is not observed in the unwarped diffraction patterns on (0kl)* and (hk0)*. The most significant difference between the structuralp arameters refined in this study, with respect to those of previously published unstrained gem-quality crystals, concerns the displacement parameters. The anisotropic displacement ellipsoids of all the atomic sites are significantly larger than those previously described, and systematically oriented with the largest elliptical section almost perpendicular to [010]. The larger ellipsoids in the kyanite crystal investigated here reflect the displacement of the centre of gravity of the electron distribution, rather than an anomalous atomic thermal motion. The magnitude and orientation of the displacement parameters and the textured/strained diffraction pattern may be the result of two combined effects: (1) that the kyanite crystals are actually composed of several blocks; (2) the crystals are affected by a pervasive residual strain, as a result of tectonometamorphic plastic deformations and re-crystallization.

Does Humanity Share a Common Moral Faculty?

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Normative Theory ◽  
Moral Truth ◽  
Moral Sentiment ◽  
Philosophical Argument ◽  
Ethical Naturalism ◽  
History Of Ethics ◽  
Moral Conception ◽  
History Of ◽  
Moral Faculty

AbstractThe history of ethics contains many moral faculty theories, which usually are sorted by their metaphysics. The usual suspects include moral rationalism (Richard Price, Kant), moral sentiment theory (Hutcheson, Hume, Smith) and the varieties of ethical naturalism. Moral faculty theories differ importantly upon yet another dimension, on how widely it is distributed. Some, the Platonic elitists (Plato, J.S. Mill, R.M. Hare), suppose that moral truth can be discerned only by philosophical argument. Hence, they ascribe a revisionary task to normative theory, that of correcting nonphilosophers' moral errors. Others, the communalists (Aquinas, Hume, W.D. Ross), hold that the moral faculty is universally distributed. Hence, they hold that normative theory's task is not to revise, but rather to discern and explain the shared moral conception that we all apply in our ordinary moral lives. I here offer arguments to support commonalism.

Peculiar Whiteness

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Mellette
Keyword(s):  
Southern Literature ◽  
White Trash ◽  
Poor Whites ◽  
Thomas Dixon ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Disparate Treatment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Poor White ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

Peculiar Whiteness argues for deeper consideration of the complexities surrounding the disparate treatment of poor whites throughout southern literature and attests to how broad such experiences have been. While the history of prejudice against this group is not the same as the legacy of violence perpetrated against people of color in America, individuals regarded as ‘white trash’ have suffered a dehumanizing process in the writings of various white authors. Poor white characters are frequently maligned as grotesque and anxiety-inducing, especially when they are aligned in close proximity to blacks or with other troubling conditions such as physical difference. Thus, as a symbol, much has been asked of poor whites, and various iterations of the label (e.g., ‘white trash,’ tenant farmers, or even people with a little less money than average) have been subject to a broad spectrum of judgment, pity, compassion, fear, and anxiety. Peculiar Whiteness engages key issues in contemporary critical race studies, whiteness studies, and southern studies, both literary and historical. Through discussions of authors including Charles Chesnutt, Thomas Dixon, Erskine Caldwell, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor, the book analyzes how we see how whites in a position of power work to maintain their status, often by finding ways to re-categorize and marginalize people who might not otherwise have seemed to fall under the auspices or boundaries of ‘white trash.’

Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Wallach
Keyword(s):  
Moral Theory ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Alasdair Macintyre ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of ◽  
Liberal Individualism

This essay discusses the contribution of Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue (1981) to a generation of moral theory. Pitched as a critique of liberal individualism (e.g., Rawls), modernity (e.g., amoral bureaucracies), and the antagonism toward the history of moral theory evinced by analytical philosophers, MacIntyre’s book urges a return toward moral traditions embedded in local communities as the best route to avoid what he regards as the soullessness of modernity and the abyss of Nietzschean philosophy. But his failure to reflect on the political valence of traditions in general or the Aristotelian and Thomist ones he values, seriously compromises his complaints about modernity and his suggestions for ways out.

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