Chapter VII: 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

CHAPTER II

ETHICS AND POLITICS

1. In considering the relation between Ethics and Politics, we have to distinguish between Positive Law and Ideal Law. 15-18

2. But at any rate the primary object of Ethics is not to determine what ought to be done in an ideal society: it therefore does not necessarily require as a preliminary the theoretical construction of such a society. 18-22