The Methods of Ethics

The Methods Of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick is presented as a neutral, expository-critical examination of how people reason about what one ought to do. It emphasizes understanding the methods themselves rather than prescribing a single correct approach, and treats ethics as a science of practice aimed at rational knowledge. The work surveys the ends of conduct (perfection and happiness) and the methods by which duties are derived, including Egoistic Hedonism, Empirical Hedonism, Intuitionism, Utilitarianism, and two related forms of Hedonism. It explains that these five natural methods will be analyzed apart from loaded history, from a neutral standpoint. Book I provides an introductory scope with chapters on Ethics, Law, Morality, Moral Reason, Pleasure, and Free Will, followed by the groundwork for later evaluation of egoism, intuitionism, utilitarianism, and hedonic variants. The text frames a nineteenth-century analytic project that seeks methodological clarity by separating empirical psychology from normative ethics while acknowledging overlap among traditions, and it traces questions about reason, motive, ends, and the foundation of duty. Its aim is to map competing theories and prepare for deeper appraisal of virtue, justice, and benevolence.