The Origin of Our Knowledge of Right and Wrong by Franz Brentano, Oskar Kraus (editor), Roderick M. Chisholm (translator), Elizabeth H. Schneewind (translator) ISBN 9781032901947, 9781032914893, 1032901942, 1032914890 instant download

The Origin of Our Knowledge of Right and Wrong by Franz Brentano, Oskar Kraus (editor), Roderick M. Chisholm (translator), Elizabeth H. Schneewind (translator) ISBN 9781032901947, 9781032914893, 1032901942, 1032914890 instant download

The Origin of Our Knowledge of Right and Wrong is Brentano's most important book on ethics and moral philosophy. Hailed by the Cambridge philosopher G.E. Moore as 'a far better discussion of the most fundamental principles of Ethics than any others with which I am acquainted', it is based on an important lecture Brentano delivered in Vienna in 1889 and the product of many years of reflection on its subject matter. Breaking with earlier arguments that ideas of right and wrong are innate, Brentano seeks to overcome a major challenge: if there is no such thing as objective moral goodness, can our moral judgments themselves still be objective, independent of context or human conventions? Brentano's answer is that they can, but only if we understand correctly the function of moral thought and discourse. His bold and highly original insight is that emotions are a precondition for moral knowledge and our experience of them can be right or wrong: if it is correct or fitting to love something we can say it is good, and if it is fitting to hate it, it is bad.

Moving deftly through key figures in the history of philosophy, including Descartes and John Stuart Mill, The Origin of Our Knowledge of Right and Wrong is a pioneering work of ethics that continues to influence both analytical and phenomenological traditions in philosophy.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a helpful account of Brentano's life and major works and a Foreword, both by Uriah Kriegel, explaining some of Brentano’s core ideas and arguments. Also included are a significant excerpt from Brentano's The Foundation and Construction of Ethics, and a historically important review by G.E. Moore of The Origin of Our Knowledge of Right and Wrong on the book's first publication.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003657446