''The Theory of Good and Evil'' is a 1907 book about

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

by the English philosopher

Hastings Rashdall Hastings Rashdall (24 June 1858 – 9 February 1924) was an English philosopher, theologian, historian, and Anglican priest. He expounded a theory known as ideal utilitarianism, and he was a major historian of the universities of the Middle A ...

. The book, which has been compared to the philosopher

G. E. Moore George Edward Moore (4 November 1873 – 24 October 1958) was an English philosopher, who with Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and earlier Gottlob Frege was among the founders of analytic philosophy. He and Russell led the turn from idea ...

's ''

Principia Ethica ''Principia Ethica'' is a 1903 book by the British philosopher G. E. Moore, in which the author insists on the indefinability of "good" and provides an exposition of the naturalistic fallacy. ''Principia Ethica'' was influential, and Moore's ...

'' (1903), is Rashdall's best known work, and is considered his most important philosophical work. Some commentators have suggested that, compared to ''Principia Ethica'', it has been unfairly neglected.

Summary

''The Theory of Good and Evil'' is dedicated to Rashdall's teachers, the philosophers

Thomas Hill Green Thomas Hill Green (7 April 183626 March 1882), known as T. H. Green, was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was infl ...

and

Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (; 31 May 1838 – 28 August 1900) was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist. He was the Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1883 until his death, and is best known in philos ...

. In the work, Rashdall discusses ethics; Rashdall states that the work is designed mainly to meet the needs of undergraduate philosophy students. Subjects addressed include

utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different chara ...

, the work of the philosopher

, including ''Principia Ethica'', the work of the philosopher F. H. Bradley, and Christian theology. In his second volume, he deals with potential objections to his views.

Publication history

''The Theory of Good and Evil'' was first published by the

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 1907. In 2004, it was republished by Elibron Classics.

Reception

''The Theory of Good and Evil'' is Rashdall's best known work, and is considered his most important philosophical work. The philosopher

Richard Wollheim Richard Arthur Wollheim (5 May 1923 − 4 November 2003) was a British philosopher noted for original work on mind and emotions, especially as related to the visual arts, specifically, painting. Wollheim served as the president of the Briti ...

described the book as "a compendious work marred by priggishness". The philosopher Alan Stout argued that while it "made no distinctively original contribution to ethics", it was one of the best general introductions to the subject written before the development of

meta-ethics In metaphilosophy and ethics, meta-ethics is the study of the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgment. It is one of the three branches of ethics generally studied by philosophers, the others being normative ethics (questions of how one o ...

and the application of

philosophical analysis Philosophical analysis is any of various techniques, typically used by philosophers in the analytic tradition, in order to "break down" (i.e. analyze) philosophical issues. Arguably the most prominent of these techniques is the analysis of concep ...

to ethics. He praised Rashdall's "through and comprehensive" treatment of ethics, and his use of "illuminating expositions and criticisms of theories of classical moral philosophers". The philosophers

John Rawls John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral, legal and political philosopher in the liberal tradition. Rawls received both the Schock Prize for Logic and Philosophy and the National Humanities Medal in 1 ...

and

Thomas Hurka Thomas Hurka (born 1952) is a Canadian philosopher who holds the Jackman Distinguished Chair in Philosophical Studies at the University of Toronto and who taught previously, from 1978 to 2002, at the University of Calgary. He is a leading defe ...

have compared Rashdall's ethical views to those of Moore; the philosopher R. S. Downie maintained that Rashdall had been "unfairly eclipsed as a moral philosopher" by Moore. Hurka suggested that because ''The Theory of Good and Evil'' was published four years after ''Principia Ethica'', it was unfairly neglected, despite presenting a more extensive treatment of some subjects. He considered Rashdall's most important contribution to be "to show how virtue can be valued intrinsically within a consequentialist framework". The philosopher Daniel Shannon criticized Rashdall's evaluation of Christian theology in ''The Theory of Good and Evil''.

References

Bibliography

;Books * * * * * * * ;Journals * 1907 non-fiction books Books by Hastings Rashdall Contemporary philosophical literature English-language books English non-fiction books Ethics literature Works about utilitarianism Clarendon Press books {{ethics-book-stub

Summary

Publication history

Reception

See also

References

Bibliography