Books by Francis Hutcheson

The writings of Francis Hutcheson played a central role in the development of British moral philosophy in the eighteenth century. "His Illustrations on the Moral Sense" is significant not only historically but also for its exploration of problems of concern in contemporary ethics. Yet except for brief selections it has not appeared in print since the eighteenth century. This edition of "Illustrations on the Moral Sense" again makes available Hutcheson's contributions to normative ethics and metaethics, thus making possible a more accurate evaluation of his significance in the history of ethics.

Francis Hutchesons 1725 erschienener Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue besteht aus zwei Teilen, von denen das Vorwort und die zweite Abhandlung "Concerning Moral Good and Evil", neben einer ausführlichen Einleitung des Herausgebers, in diesem Band enthalten sind.Vier zentrale Problembereiche werden behandelt: 1. die Frage nach dem Prinzip des moralischen Handelns, 2. die Frage nach dem Ursprung unserer moralischen Begriffe, 3. das Problem der obersten Maxime des moralischen Handelns und Urteilens und 4. die Konsequenzen dieser Auffassung für die politische Ordnung der Gesellschaft.Die Neuübersetzung basiert auf der zweiten Auflage von 1726 und verzeichnet die Varianten der ersten vier Auflagen.

Published posthumously in 1755, this two-volume set offers the most comprehensive account of the moral and political philosophy of Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746), often described as the father of the Scottish Enlightenment. The volumes examine whether and how individual natural rights derive from an innate understanding of moral behaviour.

Francis Hutcheson was one of the great thinkers in the history of British moral philosophy. The two previously inaccessible texts presented here are the most eloquent expressions of his theory of a moral sense. Thomas Mautner's introduction provides a mass of new information on the intellectual context of Hutcheson's work.