Ethical Values in the Age of Science

Paul Roubiczek argues that in the age of science there is still a place for ethics and a need for the philosophical method.

Paul Roubiczek (Author)

9780521095921, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 November 1969

328 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.48 kg

In this 1969 text, Paul Roubiczek argues that in the age of science there is still a place for ethics and a need for the philosophical method. He attempts to prove this by examining the contributions of three disciplines - history, psychology and sociology - towards man's understanding of his moral involvement with society. By illustrating that all three leave gaps or lead to contradictions, he poses the question of whether it is possible to speak of an absolute morality, which he answers by confronting 'objective method' with 'subjective method'. Only the latter can lead to a full understanding of ethics. Later, Roubiczek goes on to examine different ethical teachings, in particular, Kant's theory of knowledge and ethics, and shows that acceptance of an unconditional ethical teaching requires a Kierkegaardian 'leap into the unknown'. However, he claims that, in the field of ethics, the leap turns out to be certainty.

Preface
Part I: 1. Philosophy and ethics
2. Ethics compared with history and psycho-analysis
3. Ethics and sociology
4. The absolute and its relation the thinking
5. The incompatibility of objective and subjective knowledge
6. Humanism and ethics
Part II: 7. Kant I - his theory of knowledge and of ethics
8. Kant II - merits and shortcomings of his theory of ethics 9. Values - their nature and application
10. Relative an absolute values
11. Truth goodness and love
12. The leap into certainty
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]