Problems Of Ethics

PROBLEMS OF ETHICS PRENTICE-HAL4 PHILOSOPHY SERIES ARTHUR E. Mu ftHY, PH. D., EDITOR PERCEPTION AND AESTHETIC VALUE, by Harold Newton Lee FORMAL LOGIC, by Albert A. Bennett and Charles A. Bayhs PROBLEMS OF ETHICS, by Moritz Schlick. Translated by David Rynin PROBLEMS OF ETHICS BY MORITZ SCHLICK AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION BY DAVID RYNIN, PH. D NEW YORK 1939 PRENTICE-HALL, INC. COPYRIGHT, 1939, BJ PRENTICE-HALL, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM, BY MIMEOGRAPH OR ANY OTHER MEANS, WITHOUT PERMISSION IN WRIT ING FROM THE PUBLISHERS. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Foreword THE appearance, in English translation, of Professor Moritz Schlicks Fragen dcr JLthi is timely and welcome.-Professor Schlick was the leader of the vigorous and influential Vienna Circle, a group of scientists, logicians, and philosophers who attacked in a fresh way the persistent problem as to what the nature and the significant function of philosophical reflection really is. These thinkers, in general, carry on the traditions of empiricism and positivism, which they have reformulated in the light of certain views arising from a logical analysis of language and sym bols. Accordingly, the position which these writers represent sometimes goes by the name of logical positivism. The application of the methods and re sults of this type of analysis to some of the traditional problems of ethics supplies the substance of this book. It will bring home to the mind of the thoughtful reader the pressing question as to the real nature of ethical problems indeed of all those problems which have to do with the appraisal of human values. These problems are crucial forus now, both in theory and in practice. To have so unambiguous and clear a state vi FOREWORD ment of these problems as they appear within the per spective of modern positivism is very much worth while. GEORGE P. ADAMS The University of California Translators Note ALTHOUGH this authorized translation of Moritz Schlicks Fragen der Ethi was read and ap proved, and in part revised, by the author before his untimely and tragic death, I accept full responsibility for whatever shortcomings may yet characterize it. I wish to thank my friends for their assistance in render ing the more difficult passages into readable English, DAVID RYNIN Vll Contents PAGE FOREWORD, BY GEORGE P. ADAMS v TRANSLATORS NOTE vii PREFACE xin CHAPTER L WHAT Is THE AIM OF ETHICS .... i 1. Ethics Seeks Nothing But Knowledge i 2. The Subject-matter of Ethics .... 2 3. On the Definition of Good .... 5 4. Is the Good Indefinable 8 5. The Formal Characteristic of the Good 10 6. Material Characteristics II 7. Moral Norms and Moral Principles . 14 Ethics as a Normative Science . . 17 9. Ethics as Factual Science 20 10. Ethics Seeks Causal Explanation . . 22 11. Formulation of the Fundamental Ques tion 26 12. The Method of Ethics Is Psychological . 28 i II. WHAT ARE THE MOTIVES OF HUMAN CON DUCT 31 1. Activity and Conduct 31 2. The Nature of the Act of Will ... 33 ix CONTENTS HAPTER PAGE II. WHAT ARE THE MOTIVES OF HUMAN CON DUCT Continued 3. The Concept of Will 35 4. The Law of Motivation 36 5. In Proof of the Law of Motivation . . 41 6. The Law of Motivation in the Case of Sacrifice 42 7. The Law of Motivation in the Case of Heroism 45 8. Rebuttal of False Objections and Ex planations 47 9. The Law of Motivation Is Not Tautologous 51 10. The Law Expresses Significant Knowl edge 53 III. WHAT Is EGOISM 56 1. Egoism Is Immoral ...... 56 2. Egoism and Personal Welfare ... 57 3. The Nature of Impulse 59 4. Is Egoism an Impulse 62 5. The Possibility of Imagining Personal States 65 6. Egoism Is Not the Will to Pleasure . . 69 7. Egoism and the Impulse of Self-Preser vation 72 8. Egoism as Inconsiderateness .... 73 9. Moral Condemnation of Egoism . . 76 IV. WHAT Is THE MEANING OF MORAL . . 79 i. The Morality of Demand and the Mo rality of Desire 79