Henry Sidgwick

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The English philosopher and moralist Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900) was the author of "The Methods of Ethics", which has been described as the "best treatise on moral theory that has ever been written."

Henry Sidgwick was born in Yorkshire and attended Rugby before entering Trinity College, Cambridge. After a distinguished undergraduate career, he was elected a fellow in 1859. Because he could not in conscience subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles as a condition for holding a fellowship, Sidgwick resigned but remained at Cambridge as a lecturer. He became Knightbridge professor of moral thought in 1883. Together with his wife, Eleanor, a sister of Arthur Balfour, the British prime minister, he helped to establish Newnham, the Cambridge University college for women. Sidgwick was also one of the founders and the first president of the influential Society for Psychical Research. In addition to the classic The Methods of Ethics (1874), Sidgwick's writings include Principles of Political Economy (1883), Outlines of the History of Ethics for English Readers (1886), The Elements of Politics (1891), Practical Ethics (1898), Philosophy: Its Scope and Relations (1902), and Lectures on the Philosophy of Kant and Other Philosophical Lectures and Essays (1905). During his long association with Cambridge, Sidgwick taught and influenced several important future thinkers, including John McTaggart, G. E. Moore, and Bertrand Russell.

Ethical methodology concerns the ways in which men make decisions about how they should act. Sidgwick, as an ethical historian, saw that ethical decisions resulted from a particular conception of the end or purpose of life. Philosophers have been divided into two groups on this subject: those who think that happiness is the chief purpose of existence, and a minority group that acknowledges that there are ends other than happiness, such as self-realization or perfection, that are also intrinsically desirable.

The methods of non-Eudamonistic ethics rest on some type of intuition into the nature of moral principles that extend beyond happiness. The philosophic difficulty of intuitionalism is its inability to establish the universal validity of such insights as transcendent values. Sidgwick described happiness ethics as utilitarian and distinguished between systems that aim at the happiness of individuals (egoistic hedonism) and those that aim at happiness for all. In these systems, methodology consists of designating actions as right or wrong in terms of the amount of happiness produced for the self or for others. Sidgwick admitted that he distrusted intuitional systems because of their subjectivity, and he considered himself to be a utilitarian until he came to perceive "the profound discrepancy between the natural end of action, private happiness, and the end of duty, general happiness."

Thus the central problem of ethics for Sidgwick was located in the conflict between personal inclination and duty toward others. Eventually Sidgwick admitted that without some sort of religious sanction, the attempt rationally to demonstrate the ethical necessity of extending self-love to love for others was a failure.

Further Reading

A biography by A. and E. M. Sidgwick, Henry Sidgwick: A Memoir (1906), contains useful sources and a complete bibliography. The best secondary references are C. D. Broad's Five Types of Ethical Theory (1930) and Ethics and the History of Philosophy (1952).

Additional Sources

Schneewind, J. B. (Jerome B.), Sidgwick's ethics and Victorian moral philosophy, Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press, 1977.

(1838-1900) Cambridge utilitarian philosopher best known for his Methods of Ethics (1874). Economists, political theorists, and philosophers have all regarded this as one of the most coherent and defensible statements of utilitarianism.

Sidgwick, Henry (1838-1900) English philosopher. Sidgwick was a quintessentially late Victorian Cambridge figure. He was Fellow of Trinity College from 1859 to 1869, when he resigned because religious doubts meant that he could no longer subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles, and professor of moral philosophy from 1883 to 1900. Sidgwick was a champion of women's education and he and his wife Eleanor Balfour were principal founders of Newnham College, of which she became Principal in 1892. Sidgwick was also a mainstay of the Society for Psychical Research. His most important work is the monumental Methods of Ethics (1874). The methods are first, those of intuitive common sense, taking perfection as its goal and relying on a variety of self-evident moral principles; secondly, the method of calculating self-interest; and thirdly, that of general utilitarianism. The work is generally regarded as a classic statement of the different kinds of ethical argument. In particular, Sidgwick anticipated Moore in his denial that ethical terms are capable of definition. However, at the end of the day, he found himself unable to reconcile the demands of self-interest and those of ethics (see sensible knave), so the relationship between ethical demands and others remains uneasy.

First president of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), London, a professor at Cambridge University who filled the chair of moral philosophy, and who once was described as "the most incorrigibly and exasperatingly critical and sceptical mind in England." F. W. H. Myers (who pursued investigations with Sidgwick) and Edmund Gurney made their cooperation with the fledgling SPR contingent upon his acceptance of the presidential post.

Sidgwick was born May 31, 1838, at Skipton, Yorkshire, England. He attended Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge (fellow, 1859-69). In 1876, he married Eleanor Mildred Balfour, the sister of Arthur James Balfour, later British Prime Minister.

In his first presidential address to the SPR, on July 17, 1882, Sidgwick used plain words: "We are all agreed that the present state of things is a scandal to the enlightened age in which we live, that the dispute as to the reality of these marvelous phenomena of which it is quite impossible to exaggerate the scientific importance, if only a tenth part of what has been alleged by generally credible witnesses could be shown to be true—I say it is a scandal that the dispute as to the reality of these phenomena should still be going on, that so many competent witnesses should have declared their belief in them, that so many others should be profoundly interested in having the question determined, and yet the educated world, as a body, should still be simply in an attitude of incredulity."

He declared that he did not expect to produce evidence of a better quality than that of Sir William Crookes, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Augustus de Morgan, but wanted a great deal more of it. Speaking on scientific incredulity he concluded: "We have done all that we can when the critic has nothing left to allege except that the investigator is in the trick. But when he has nothing else left he will allege that…. We must drive the objector into the position of being forced either to admit the phenomena as inexplicable, at least by him, or to accuse the investigators either of lying or cheating or of a blindness or forgetfulness incompatible with any intellectual condition except absolute idiocy."

For 18 years Sidgwick claimed an active share in the work of the SPR, contributed many important studies to the Proceedings, and helped the investigations by his personal means. He edited the society's Journal in 1885.

He died without admitting any reality to either telekinesis or ectoplasm. But as early as 1864 he wrote to a Mr. Dakyns, a friend: "I (fancy I) have actually heard the raps …" and added: "However, I have no kind of evidence to come before a jury. So keep it still till I blaze forth." He never blazed forth.

He had sittings with mediums Frank Herne and Henry Slade and materialization séances with C. E. Wood and Annie Fairlamb in his own home at Cambridge under the most stringent test conditions, as testified by Myers's notes. Eleanor Sidgwick published an account of those she attended in the SPR Proceedings (vol. 4) and admitted that it was exceedingly difficult "but not perhaps impossible" to impute the results to imposture. In justice, however, it should be added that the most astounding and conclusive phenomena, according to Myers, occurred in the absence of both Sidgwicks.

It is more widely known that Sidgwick was impressed by the phenomena of Eusapia Palladino, which he witnessed with his wife on the Ile. Roubaud in 1894, as the guest of Charles Richet. During the latter part of Palladino's stay there, her phenomena were less spectacular, and he then took a leading part in the sittings held at Cambridge in 1895 that resulted in her exposure. He had a number of sittings with Leonora Piper in 1889-90 and retained the keenest interest in her trance phenomena.

He died August 28, 1900. The first communications purporting to come from Sidgwick after his death were obtained through Rosina Thompson on January 11, 1901. According to J. G. Piddington, who was present, the diction, manner, and voice were astonishingly lifelike, and he felt that he was indeed speaking with and hearing the voice of the man he had known. The written communications that followed the oral one bear out a striking resemblance to Sidgwick's handwriting. The first such script was received through Thompson in Piddington's presence. Other messages, of varying evidential value, were received through the hand of Margaret Verrall.

Sources:

Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Gauld, Alan. The Founders of Psychical Research. New York: Schrocken Books, 1968.

Pleasants, Helene, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology. New York: Helix Press, 1964.

Sidgwick, Henry. "Canons of Evidence in Psychical Research." Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (1888-90).

——. "Disinterested Deception." Journal 6 (1894).

Sidgwick, Henry, A. Johnson, F. W. H. Myers, Frank Podmore, and Eleanor Sidgwick. "Report on the Census of Hallucinations." Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 10(1894).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

Henry Sidgwick

Western Philosophy 19th-century philosophy
Full name	Henry Sidgwick
Born	May 31, 1838(1838-05-31)
Died	August 28, 1900 (aged 62)
School/tradition	Utilitarianism
Main interests	Ethics, Politics
Notable ideas	Ethical Hedonism, paradox of hedonism
Influenced by Jeremy Bentham
Influenced Peter Singer R M Hare, Mordecai Kaplan

Henry Sidgwick (May 31, 1838–August 28, 1900) was an English Utilitarian philosopher. He was one of the founders and first president of the Society for Psychical Research, a member of the Metaphysical Society, and promoted the higher education of women.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Works 3 Bibliography 3.1 by Sidgwick 3.2 about Sidgwick 4 External links 5 References

Biography

He was born at Skipton in Yorkshire, where his father, the Reverend W. Sidgwick (d. 1841), was headmaster of the local grammar school, Ermysted's Grammar School. Henry himself was educated at Rugby (where his cousin, subsequently his brother-in-law, Edward White Benson – later Archbishop of Canterbury – was a master), and at Trinity College, Cambridge. While at Trinity, Sidgwick became a member of the Cambridge Apostles. In 1859 he was senior classic, 33rd wrangler, chancellor's medallist and Craven scholar. In the same year he was elected to a fellowship at Trinity, and soon afterwards became a lecturer in classics there, a post he held for ten years.^[1]

In 1869, he exchanged his lectureship for one in moral philosophy, a subject to which he had been turning his attention. In the same year, deciding that he could no longer in good conscience declare himself a member of the Church of England, he resigned his fellowship. He retained his lectureship, and in 1881 was elected an honorary fellow. In 1874 he published The Methods of Ethics (6th ed. 1901, containing emendations written just before his death), by common consent a major work, which made his reputation outside the university. John Rawls called it the "first truly academic work in moral theory, modern in both method and spirit."^[2]

In 1875, he was appointed praelector on moral and political philosophy at Trinity, and in 1883 he was elected Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy. In 1885, the religious test having been removed, his college once more elected him to a fellowship on the foundation.

Besides his lecturing and literary labours, Sidgwick took an active part in the business of the university, and in many forms of social and philanthropic work. He was a member of the General Board of Studies from its foundation in 1882 till 1899; he was also a member of the Council of the Senate of the Indian Civil Service Board and the Local Examinations and Lectures Syndicate, and chairman of the Special Board for Moral Science.^{[citation needed]}

Works

The Utilitarianism series
part of the Politics series
Utilitarian Thinkers
Jeremy Bentham John Stuart Mill Henry Sidgwick Peter Singer
Forms
preference utilitarianism rule utilitarianism act utilitarianism Two-level utilitarianism Total utilitarianism Average utilitarianism Negative utilitarianism animal welfare Abolitionism (bioethics) Hedonism Enlightened self-interest
Predecessors
Epicurus David Hume William Godwin
Key concepts
Pain Suffering Pleasure Utility Happiness Eudaimonia Consequentialism Felicific calculus
Problems
Mere addition paradox Paradox of hedonism Utility monster
See also
Rational choice theory Game theory Social choice Economics
Portal: Politics
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He was one of the founders and first president of the Society for Psychical Research, and was a member of the Metaphysical Society. Prominently, he took in promoting the higher education of women. He helped to start the higher local examinations for women, and the lectures held at Cambridge in preparation for these. It was at his suggestion and with his help that Anne Clough opened a house of residence for students, which developed into Newnham College, Cambridge. When, in 1880, the North Hall was added, Sidgwick, who in 1876 had married Eleanor Mildred Balfour (sister of A. J. Balfour), lived there for two years. After Clough's death in 1892 Mrs Sidgwick became principal of the college, and she and her husband lived there for the rest of his life. During this whole period Sidgwick took the deepest interest in the welfare of the college. In politics he was a Liberal, and became a Liberal Unionist (a party that later effectively merged with the Tory party) in 1886. Early in 1900 he was forced by ill-health to resign his professorship, and died a few months later.^{[citation needed]}

Sidgwick was a famous teacher. He treated his pupils as fellow students. He was deeply interested in psychical phenomena, but his energies were primarily devoted to the study of religion and philosophy. Brought up in the Church of England, he drifted away from orthodox Christianity, and as early as 1862 he described himself as a theist. For the rest of his life, though he regarded Christianity as "indispensable and irreplaceable – looking at it from a sociological point of view," he found himself unable to return to it as a religion.

In political economy he was a Utilitarian on the lines of John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. His work was characterized by its careful investigation of first principles, as in his distinction of positive and normative reasoning, and by critical analysis, not always constructive. His influence was such that for example Alfred Marshall, founder of the Cambridge School of economics, would describe him as his "spiritual mother and father." ^[3] In philosophy he devoted himself to ethics, and especially to the examination of the ultimate intuitive principles of conduct and the problem of free will. He adopted a position which may be described as ethical hedonism, according to which the criterion of goodness in any given action is that it produces the greatest possible amount of pleasure. This hedonism, however, is not confined to the self (egoistic), but involves a due regard to the pleasure of others, and is, therefore, distinguished further as universalistic. Lastly, Sidgwick returns to the principle that no man should act so as to destroy his own happiness.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography

by Sidgwick

• The Methods of Ethics. London, 1874, 7th ed. 1907.
• "The Theory of Evolution in its application to Practice", in Mind, Volume I, Number 1 January 1876, 52–67,
• Principles of Political Economy. London, 1883, 3rd ed. 1901.
• The Scope and Method of Economic Science. 1885.
• The Elements of Politics. London, 1891, 4th ed. 1919.
• Outlines of the History of Ethics. 1886, 5th ed. 1902 (enlarged from his article ethics in the Encyclopædia Britannica).
• "The Philosophy of Common Sense", in Mind, New Series, Volume IV, Number 14, April 1895, 145–158.
• "economic science and economics," Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy, 1896, v. 1, reprinted in The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 1987, v. 2, 58-59.
• Practical Ethics. London, 1898, 2nd ed. 1909.
• Philosophy; its Scope and Relations. London, 1902.
• Lectures on the Ethics of T. H. Green, Mr Herbert Spencer and J. Martineau. 1902.
• The Development of European Polity. 1903.
• Miscellaneous Essays and Addresses. 1904.
• Lectures on the Philosophy of Kant. 1905.
• Sidgwick's writings available online

about Sidgwick

• Schultz, Bart. Henry Sidgwick: Eye of the Universe. An Intellectual Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Schultz, Bart. Henry Sidgwick. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. October 5, 2004.
• Blum, Deborah. Ghost Hunters. Arrow Books, 2007.
• Dawes, Ann. "Henry Sidgwick". Biograph, 2007
• (French) Geninet, Hortense. POLITIQUES COMPAREES, Henry Sidgwick et la politique moderne dans les Eléménts Politiques, Edited by Hortense Geninet, France, September 2009. ISBN 9782746610439

External links

• Henry Sidgwick Website English and French.
• Henry Sidgwick blog English and French.
• Bibliography and Library of Sidgwick's writings
• Official website of the 2nd International congress : Henry Sidgwick Ethics, Psychics, Politics. University of Catania - Italy Italian, English, French.
• Henry Sidgwick. Comprehensive list of online writings by and about Sidgwick.
• Stanford's Encyclopedia's Entry.

References

1. ^ Sidgwick, Henry in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
2. ^ Rawls, J. 1980. 'Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory'. In: Journal of Philosophy 77 (1980).
3. ^ Phyllis Deane, "Sidgwick, Henry," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 1987, v. 4, pp. 328-29.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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Persondata
NAME	Sidgwick, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	English philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH	May 31, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH	Skipton, Yorkshire
DATE OF DEATH	August 28, 1900
PLACE OF DEATH

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