The Science of Ethics, Vol. 1: General Ethics (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Science of Ethics, Vol. 1: General Ethics

The main purpose of this work on Ethics is to present to students of Moral Science a full and connected account of the ethical system of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. To this system the author gives his fullest assent and adherence, an adherence which is no mere blind acceptance of a tradition, but comes of a conviction which has grown stronger and clearer with time and study, that the general principles on which Aristotle builds furnish a thoroughly sound basis of moral enquiry, and that his method is such as to ensure continued development in accordance with the most rigid requirements of science. For Ethics is nothing more than a study of natural law, zle. The natural needs of man and the means of satisfying them, and the method employed by Aristotle is the direct determination of those needs by an empirical examination of our human constitution, our faculties and their essential functions and objects. Every natural normative science proceeds in this manner. Physiology determines the needs of the body by an examination of the organs, their functions and ends. Medicine supplies the means necessary for meeting these needs And not only the determination of our personal, but of our social necessities also, depends upon the same method. The natural welfare of the human race is found always in development within the range of our natural capacities and their essential objects.

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