Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy

The premier political philosopher of his day, John Rawls, in three decades of teaching at Harvard, has had a profound influence on the way philosophical ethics is approached and understood today. This book brings together the lectures that inspired a generation of students--and a regeneration of moral philosophy. It invites readers to learn from the most noted exemplars of modern moral philosophy with the inspired guidance of one of contemporary philosophy's most noteworthy practitioners and teachers.

Central to Rawls's approach is the idea that respectful attention to the great texts of our tradition can lead to a fruitful exchange of ideas across the centuries. In this spirit, his book engages thinkers such as Leibniz, Hume, Kant, and Hegel as they struggle in brilliant and instructive ways to define the role of a moral conception in human life. The lectures delineate four basic types of moral reasoning: perfectionism, utilitarianism, intuitionism, and--the ultimate focus of Rawls's course--Kantian constructivism. Comprising a superb course on the history of moral philosophy, they also afford unique insight into how John Rawls has transformed our view of this history.
Modern Moral Philosophy, 1600-1800

1. A Difference between Classical and Modern Moral Philosophy

2. The Main Problem of Greek Moral Philosophy

3. The Background of Modern Moral Philosophy

4. The Problems of Modem Moral Philosophy

5. The Relation between Religion and Science

6. Kant on Science and Religion

7. On Studying Historical Texts

HUME

I. Morality Psychologized and the Passions

1. Background: Skepticism and the Fideism of Nature

2. Classification of the Passions

3. Outline of Section 3 of Part III of Book II

4. Hume's Account of (Nonmoral) Deliberation: The Official View

II.. Rational Deliberation and the Role of Reason

1. Three Questions about Hume's Official View

2. Three Further Psychological Principles

3. Deliberation as Transforming the System of Passions

4. The General Appetite to Good

5. The General Appetite to Good: Passion or Principle?

III. Justice as an Artificial Virtue

1. The Capital of the Sciences

2. The Elements of Hume's Problem

3. The Origin of Justice and Property

4. The Circumstances of Justice

5. The Idea of Convention Examples and Supplementary Remarks

6. Justice as a Best Scheme of Conventions

7. The Two Stages of Development

IV.. The Critique of Rational Intuitionism

1. Introduction

2. Some of Clarke's Main Claims

3. The Content of Right and Wrong

4. Rational Intuitionism's Moral Psychology

5. Hume's Critique of Rational Intuitionism

6. Hume's Second Argument: Morality Not Demonstrable

V. The Judicious Spectator

1. Introduction

2. Hume's Account of Sympathy

3. The First Objection: The Idea of the Judicious Spectator

4. The Second Objection: Virtue in Rags Is Still Virtue

5. The Epistemological Role of the Moral Sentiments

6. Whether Hume Has a Conception of Practical Reason

7. The Concluding Section of the Treatise

Appendix: Hume's Disowning the Treatise