CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

PAGES

1. Ethics is a department of the Theory or Study of Practice. 1-2

2. It is the study of what ought to be, so far as this depends upon the voluntary action of individuals. 2-4

3. In deciding what they ought to do, men naturally proceed on different principles, and by different methods. 4-6

4. There are two _prima facie_ rational Ends, Excellence or Perfection and Happiness: of which the latter at least may be sought for oneself or universally. It is also commonly thought that certain Rules are prescribed without reference to ulterior consequences. The Methods corresponding to these different principles reduce themselves in the main to three, Egoism, Intuitionism, Utilitarianism. 6-11

5. These methods we are to examine separately, abstracting them from ordinary thought, where we find them in confused combination, and developing them as precisely and consistently as possible. 11-14