Outlines of Social Philosophy Classic Reprint

Excerpt from Outlines of Social Philosophy

This book has grown out of a short course of lectures that I was called upon to deliver at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the session 1916-17. I have adhered to the general plan of the lectures, but have expanded their substance; and the book may now be regarded as taking the place of the Introduction that was written about thirty years ago, and that has now been out of print for a long time. Its scope and plan are, however, considerably different from those of the earlier work. My object has been to provide a suitable textbook for students of the subject. It is now studied in this country by a considerable number of people, differing very widely in age and previous preparation, and also in the special aims that they have in view; and it would hardly be possible to write anything that would be quite suitable for them all. I have tried to expound the leading principles in a way that might be expected to be intelligible and interesting to beginners, and at the same time to supply some material that might be useful to more advanced students, and to indicate directions in which further light could be sought on the subjects that come up for discussion. It appears to be the practice, in several places in which courses of this kind are given, to use Plato's Republic as a general basis for study. I believe this to be a good practice; and I have, accordingly, given frequent references to that work throughout, and have also added some Notes upon it in an Appendix. Those who have not been studying the Republic may ignore these Notes. Beginners may be recommended also, on a first reading, to omit the Introduction and the Note at the end of Book II, Chapter IV.

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