ABSTRACT

Ethics, in the empiricist view, is conduct favored consistently enough throughout a society to be expressed as a code of principles. Since ethics is about what people ought to do, this means that its central question is "What is a reason, and when does someone have reason to do, or prefer that someone else do, something?" In an ancient tradition that stems from Plato, ethics has to do with what ought to be rather than what is. So, it must be pursued like pure mathematics, by reflecting on previously given ideals, or concepts. In Methods of Ethics, Henry Sidgwick started with the hypothesis that intuitions reveal convictions that are common to the whole of mankind, but he eventually saw that this cannot be reconciled with the fact that moral feeling varies, both with individuals and with societies. The chapter provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book.