Sidgwick, HENRY

Sidgwick, HENRY, a writer on ethics, was born at Skipton in Yorkshire, on 31st May 1838, and educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, being elected a Fellow in 1859. From 1875 he lectured in the capacity of prælector of Moral and Political Philosophy, and in 1883 was elected Knightbridge professor of Moral Philosophy. His name first became widely known as an able writer on ethical subjects by his Methods of Ethics (1874; 4th ed. 1890), a critical examination of the principles underlying the various historic systems of moral philosophy, in which the points of resemblance between the opposing intuitionist and utilitarian schools are particularly dwelt upon. The writer is on the whole fair to both sides, although his own sympathies lean to the utilitarian standpoint. The strongest feature of the book is its keen analytical power, which, however, drifts at times into the over-refinements of mere intellectual subtlety. Professor Sidgwick contributed numerous papers on ethical and economic subjects to Mind, the Journal of Philology, and other journals. He took a warm and active interest in the higher education of women, and was especially interested in the management of Newnham College at Cambridge. In 1886 he published as a separate book Outlines of the History of Ethics, the historical summary of the chief ethical systems and schools that he contributed to the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica; in 1883 The Principles of Political Economy, a work that maintains the essentials of John Stuart Mill's method and results, but modifies them into harmony with the march of progress and the advance in economic ideas; in 1891 The Elements of Politics. Professor Sidgwick was president of the Psychical Research Society. He died at Terling, Essex, 30th August 1900.