A Look at the Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics

A Look at the Book The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics

Author of the introductory text: Elham Yousefi

Whatever we say about the importance of the history of philosophy in philosophical studies is merely repeating the words of our predecessors. Many works on the history of philosophy have been published to date; Frederick Copleston with his famous nine-volume set, Anthony Kenny, Bertrand Russell, Will Durant, William Sahakian, and several others have published noteworthy and well-received works in this field. These works have taken a historical view of all areas of philosophy; for example, in his four-volume set A New History of Western Philosophy, Anthony Kenny presents each philosopher's view on various branches of philosophy separately. Or in Copleston's set, each chapter is dedicated to a philosopher, where that philosopher's views on various subjects are presented. However, until the last two decades, little attention had been paid to an independent historiography of moral philosophy, even globally, with the exception of Henry Sidgwick's work Outlines of the History of Ethics[1]. Of course, noteworthy and credible works, albeit few in number, have been published, but they all contain a brief history of ethics and lack comprehensiveness; the book Great Thinkers of Moral Philosophy[2] published by Lega Publishing, A History of Western Moral Philosophy by Lawrence and Charlotte Becker[3], and A Short History of Ethics by Alasdair MacIntyre[4] are among such works that have been translated into Persian. The absence of a book dedicated to a monographic treatment of the history of moral philosophy was always felt, and the lack of such a work in the academic sphere, especially for students of moral philosophy, seemed quite palpable.

Recently, Hermes Publications has released a book titled The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics[5]; the book was published by Oxford University in 2013[6] and can be considered highly significant and the first academic work on the history of moral philosophy; a precise and comprehensive book arranged in three volumes and thirty-nine chapters, edited by Roger Crisp[7]. Crisp, born in 1961 in England, is a lecturer in philosophy at the Uehiro Centre and a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Oxford. He is engaged in writing and editing in the field of philosophy.

The translation of this book, which took two years from its initial plan to publication, examines the history of ethics from Homer to contemporary moral philosophers. Although the book takes a historical view, Crisp says that in this work, all authors were asked to explain how their discussions and arguments about each philosopher relate to contemporary philosophical ethics. The authors of each article are also often familiar names to us and are among the greatest experts on that subject. In the preface, Crisp says this book is a history of ethical ideas, or the rational efforts of scholars to find an answer to the main question of ethics, which is "how should one live?".

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics includes the views of many thinkers, schools, and major periods of thought in ethics. This work is organized into two parts: the first 28 articles examine the overall thought of a thinker or a movement. Among these, given the importance of Kant's moral philosophy, three chapters are dedicated to Kantian and post-Kantian ethics.

The final eleven articles pay attention to the evolution of ethical topics, such as free will, in accordance with historical sequence; after analyzing the issue, the authors also look at the topic throughout its history. Crisp has not neglected moral psychology, as one of the important branches of meta-ethical discussions; for example, chapters thirty and thirty-five are dedicated to this area. Additionally, one chapter examines relativism; a discussion explored in meta-ethics under the topic of realism and anti-realism. In many philosophical texts, relativism is also considered anti-realist. The book also pays attention to the nature of moral language and thought, which is another branch of meta-ethics.

One of the book's strengths is its selection of appropriate entries. In addition, an abstract of each chapter appears at the beginning of that chapter, prepared based on the separate version of these articles on the Oxford website. Some chapters of the book are devoted to thinkers who, although less known in ethics, have had a profound impact on moral thought after them, such as Homer and Joseph Butler. However, it must be said that this work should be considered a

John Stuart Mill; Henry R. West. Translated by Mehdi Golzari

Sidgwick; Bart Schultz. Translated by Seyed Mohsen Eslami

Idealist Ethics in Britain; W. J. Mander. Translated by Ali Kouchaki

Moral Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition; John Deigh. Translated by Maryam Yousefi

Volume Three

29. Free Will; Derk Pereboom. Translated by Javad Danesh
30. Emotion and the Emotions; Susan Sauvé Meyer, Adrienne M. Martin. Translated by Neda Fashami
31. Happiness, Suffering, and Death; Richard Kraut. Translated by Mehdi Khosravani
32. Autonomy; John Christman. Translated by Mohsen Javadi
33. Egoism, Partiality, and Impartiality; Brad Hooker. Translated by Mehdi Khosravani
34. Conscience, Guilt, and Shame; John Cottingham. Translated by Ali Kouchaki
35. Moral Psychology and Virtue; Nancy Sherman. Translated by Ali Kouchaki
36. Justice, Equality, and Rights; John Tasioulas. Translated by Ali Kouchaki
37. Styles of Moral Relativism: A Critical Family Tree; Miranda Fricker. Translated by Mehdi Khosravani
38. The Metaphysics of Morals; Daniel Star. Translated by Seyed Mohsen Eslami
39. The Shaping of Practical Ethics; Dale Jamieson. Translated by Seyed Mohsen Eslami

[1] . This book was first published in 1886.

Henry Sidwick, Outline of the History of Ethics, Adamant Media Corporation (November 30, 2005).

[2]. Angier, Tom, The Great Thinkers of Moral Philosophy, edited by Kaveh Behbahani, Tehran: Lega, 1400 [2021].

[3] . Lawrence and Charlotte Becker, A History of Western Ethics, translated by a group of translators, edited by Mahmoud Pakravan, Qom: Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, 1387 [2008].

[4] . MacIntyre, A Short History of Ethics, translated by Ensha'allah Rahmati, Tehran: Hekmat, 1396 [2017].

[5]. Crisp, Roger, The History of Moral Philosophy: The Oxford Handbook, translated by a group of scholars, Tehran: Hermes, 1402 [2023].

[6] . Crisp , Roger(ed): The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics, Oxford University Press, 2013

[7] .Roger Crisp

[8] . According to this belief, humanity moves towards a better world over the course of history.