Henry Sidgwick and The Methods of Ethics. In Search for Secular Morality

Abstract

The article presents Henry Sidgwick’s life and the main goals of his masterpiece The Methods of Ethics. Almost unknown in Poland, Sidgwick’s thought has had a greater influence on philosophical discussion than the works of Bentham and Mill. This influence can be seen not only in the contemporary literature on utilitarianism and consequentialism but also in the discussions of contractarianism and in virtue theories. Many moral problems which Sidgwick defined in his work resulted from a crisis which followed from the conflict which Victorian thinkers recognized as that between faith and reason. Both in The Methods of Ethics and in his personal life Sidgwick sought truth. His endeavors found a particularly vivid expression in the very last chapter of the Methods, where, having reached a conclusion which was contrary to his utilitarian “preferences”, he admitted that there were two contradictory moral principles — the utilitarian principle of benevolence and the egoistic principle of prudence.