FOUR PHASES OF MORALS
SOCRATES, ARISTOTLE,CHRISTIANITY, UTILITARIANISM.
BY
JOHN STUART BLACKIE, F.R.S.E.
PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
SECOND EDITION.
EDINBURGH
EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS
1874.
SIR HENRY HOLLAND, BART.,
M.D., D.C.L.,
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OP GREAT
BRITAIN, ETC. ETC.
Dear Sir,—As the substance of this book was originally delivered inthe form of Lectures before the Royal Institution, London, I wasnaturally led, in giving my notes a more exact expression and a largerillustration, to do so in connexion with your name—a name which,besides its official significance in all that concerns the AlbemarleStreet Institution, was recommended to me by that remarkablecombination of rare experience of life, enlightened scholarship, andvarious knowledge of men and places, which, more than the greatestmetaphysical acuteness, or the most extensive academical learning,enables a man to be a sound judge of those important practicalquestions with which the science of Ethics is occupied. As by thearrangements of the season—1869—of which my course formed a part,the number of Lectures was limited to four, and as I determined totreat the subject in the concrete historically, rather than in theform of abstract discussion, it necessarily happened that the fourphases of morals to which I specially directed attention, viewed inreference to the whole system of ethical doctrine, presented anincomplete and fragmentary aspect. I endeavoured however, under theselimitations, to bring forward those historical manifestations of moraltruth which both afforded a ready occasion for discussing some of themost fundamental questions of Ethics, and, from historical and localconsiderations, were most fitted to be presented to a British audienceat the present day. At the same time, there runs through the fourdiscourses a unity of thought and tendency beyond what the titleindicates, and which those who are competent to judge will easilyrecognise. Hoping that you will find nothing in this book but what hasbeen “attained with honesty, and maintained with moderation”—thetest of excellence in such matters which yourself have wiselyindicated,—and that you may be able to accord to these Discourses intheir written form some portion of that approbation which yourpresence conferred on their oral delivery,
I am,Dear Sir,Yours, with sincere esteem,JOHN STUART BLACKIE.
University, Edinburgh,October 1871.
CONTENTS.
SOCRATES.
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As there is no country which can boast the honour of possessing morenames of a world-wide significance than Greece, so among those whohold this lofty position there is no name superior to Socrates,concerning whom the Delphic oracle in ancient times, and a greatutilitarian authority in modern times, agree in testifying that he wasthe wisest of the wise Greeks.