Table Of ContentContents
5 * O f e
CHAPTER O N E ~ 1
Educator Philosopher
c h a p t e r t w o ~ 2 9
Benthamic Utilitarianism
CHAPTER THREE.— 59
Refutation of Positivism
CHAPTER FOUR — 90
Reconstruction of the Utilitarian Ethic
CHAPTER F I V E — 109
Sidgwick & English Liberalism
c h a p t e r s i x — 135
The Conservative Idea
c h a p t e r s e v e n .— 148
Institutional Politics
c h a p t e r e i g h t — 165
Utilitarianism Transformed & Absorbed
n o t e s — 173
b i b l i o g r a p h y — 181
I N D E X — 189
H E N R Y S I D G W I C K
er
Later U tilitarian Political Philosophy
sa o ts
WI L L I A M C. H A V A R D
U N I V E R S I T Y OF F L O R I D A PR E S S
G A I N E S V I L L E
1959
To Wilhelmenia, Sylvia & Deborah
aSSOfe
A University of Florida Press Boor
PUBLISHED TTTH ASSISTANCE FROM
The Ford Foundation
Copyright, 195?, by the Board of Commissioners
of State Institutions of Florida
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Library of Congrea Catalogue Card No. 19-l}744
PRINTED by FLORIDA GROVER PRESS
TAMPA, FLORIDA
H E N R Y S I D G W I C K
HISTORIANS of political ideas have tended to close their
discussions of English utilitarianism with John Stuart
Mill, who died in 1873. Some commentators even treat
Mills writings during the last twenty years of his life
as a sort of addendum to utilitarianism proper, indicating that the
inconsistency of Mills later work demonstrates the untenability of
the basic doctrines of utilitarianism. There is a certain plausibility
in this procedure for several reasons. In the first place the practical
influence of Benthamic utilitarianism was greatest and most direct
before 1850, when the Philosophical Radicals (who were avowedly
Benthamic in their aims and methods) constituted a parliamentary
force that had to be reckoned with. Furthermore, the momentum
of this movement was sufficient to effect a broad consensus on the
efficacy of individualistic liberalism as the basis of public policy, at
least down to the Reform Act of 1867. After 1870, however, the
dominance of classical liberalism as a practical influence was in*
creasingly challenged by legislation of a collectivistic nature, while
at the same time other philosophical schools, especially positivism
and idealism, rose to prominence in an intellectual sphere once
heavily dominated by the utilitarians.
Even if partly justified by these developments, such a break is
especially unfortunate in the history of utilitarian ideas because it
Preface
speculations of the closing years of his life, In some respects the
structure of his work may be compared with Bodin’s—each book
treats a special set of problems from the perspective of a general
philosophy. The parallel cannot be taken too far, however, because
the broadening of Sidgwick s philosophical horizon is always very
closely related to what went before and does not involve the complex
shifts in fundamentals apparent in Bodin. Because of this character
istic unity in diversity, the organizational problem involved in
presenting Sidgwicks thought practically solves itself—each major
work requires topical presentation. This does not mean, however,
that the works may be treated in the order of their appearance.
The reader of a study in the history of ideas should have the main
conceptions about the nature of man and society of the writer before
him at a fairly early stage, even though (as in the case of Sidgwick)
these were only partly discernible in the early works and were
worked out completely in the later periods of his life. For that
reason the order of treatment of Sidgwick s thought proper, which
begins in Chapter 3, has followed a logical rather than chronological
structure.
For a closely related reason a rather long chapter on earlier
utilitarianism has been included. The writer realizes that this chap
ter traverses ground that has already been covered many times.
In fact, the real trouble is that it has been covered almost too well
and from too many angles to serve present purposes. The numerous
facets of the writings of the earlier utilitarians themselves and the
quantity of secondary materials on them seemed to require some
reduction and systematization of the main contributions of these
early men, in order to provide a compact guide to the theoretical
deficiencies of their thought. For it is from basic and omnipresent
philosophical defects in his predecessors that the criticism and recon
struction effected by Sidgwick begins; and the appearance of these
weaknesses in the methodology, the ethical ideas, the political theory,
and the concept of economic policy of the Benthamites required
Sidgwick to reformulate the main doctrines of each of these
theoretical structures.
The completion of this work in its preliminary form was made
possible by a grant from the Southern Fellowships Fund, and the
kind assistance of that organization is hereby acknowledged. I also
wish to express my gratitude to my acquaintances at the London
School of Economics for the stimulating and rewarding experiences
vii
Preface
that were mine during my years of study there. A special note of
appreciation goes to Professor K. B. Smellie, whose critical abilities
were given ample scope for application during the preparation of
various drafts of this study. His patient guidance and encourage*
ment are warmly acknowledged.
Helpful suggestions were made on several key points by Pro
fessor Wilfrid Harrison of the University of Liverpool and by Allen
Milne now at Queens University, Belfast. The manuscript was also
read in whole or in part (in various stages of preparation) by
Robert J. Harris, Loren P. Beth, and Peter J. Fliess. Their individual
acts of helpfulness over the years are too numerous to be fully
acknowledged and must, therefore, be recorded as the unrecom-
pensable rewards of friendship. Again, a very special debt is owed
to Professor Eric Voegelin, not only for his perceptive suggestions
for the improvement of this study, but for his tutorial guidance
during my undergraduate and graduate studies, his unparalleled
example as a scholar, and his continuing interest and counsel. I also
wish to thank the Graduate School of Louisiana State University
for furnishing very efficient typing services in the course of pre
paring the manuscript for publication.
All of these individuals and organizations have contributed in
large part to whatever merits the book may possess. The responsi
bility for defects of fact or interpretation rests entirely with the
author.
vin
CHAPTER ONE
Educator & Philosopher
z ^ Q f e :
HENRY SIDGWICK was bom in 1838, the year following
Queen Victorias accession; and he died in 1900, the
year before the end of her reign. It is not merely by
virtue of this chronological accident, however, that the
term Victorian may be so suitably applied to Sidgwick, for much of
the background and many of the events of his life are readily
identifiable with values and patterns of behavior that are in the best
sense characteristic of that period. In his middle-class origin, in the
history of his education, and in the philosophical, political, and
educational problems with which he struggled, certain dominant
themes of Victorian life are clearly discernible. Above all, perhaps,
there is a Victorian contrast between the quiet simplicity of his
ordinary life and the heroic cast of his intellectual achievements.
Sidgwick was bom at Skipton in the West Riding of Yorkshire,
the fourth child of the Reverend William Sidgwick, who was at the
time headmaster of the grammar school at Skipton. Henry Sidg
wick s paternal grandfather had been a prosperous cotton spinner
at Skipton; and his mother, who was orphaned early in life, had
been brought up by an uncle who held the living at Bolton Abbey.
Sidgwicks father died in 1841, and after moving several times in a
vain attempt to provide a healthful location for her eldest daughter,
Mrs. Sidgwick settled in Redland, on the outskirts of Bristol, in
1
H E N R Y S 1 D G WI C K
1844. Sidgwicks schooling began here, first under a governess,
later at a day school in Bristol, and later still at a boarding school
in Blackheath.1*
Sidgwicks secondary education corresponded to his position in
life; it was cut directly from the pattern of the middle class, whose
particular mid-nineteenth-century virtues and aspirations found re
markably apt expression in the reformed public school. Sidgwick’s
father had been opposed to the public school system on moral
grounds, undoubtedly with good reasons since his knowledge of these
institutions was based on the period, before Thomas Arnold’s tenure
at Rugby, when the rule of the bully and deference to public opinion
were characteristic.2 However, acting on the advice of the future
Archbishop Edward White Benson, a cousin of Sidgwicks father
and later married to Sidgwicks sister, his mother sent young Henry
to Rugby in 1852.3 Arnold had then been dead only ten years, and
the atmosphere at Rugby was permeated with the memory of his
impact on the moral tone of Victorian life produced by his strong
emphasis on the building of character based on the highest ideals
of Christian gentlemanliness.
Benson went to Rugby as assistant master in the same year and
he proved to be one of the early important influences on Sidgwick.
Mrs. Sidgwick moved with her family to Rugby in 1853, and Ben
son came to live with them. Since Henry also lived at home during
his last two years at school, his relations with Benson were far
closer than those which normally subsist between a teacher and an
exceptionally gifted pupil. Benson was a thorough scholar and a
stimulating teacher. Sidgwick said that “the occasional lessons he
gave the Sixth far surpassed any other teaching I had at Rugby or
indeed afterwards/’4 Although Sidgwick noted that new influences
in his second year at Cambridge eventually led to his enlistment as
an “Academic Liberal” and thereby profoundly changed his relation
to Benson, he never forgot the moral and intellectual example set
for him by his cousin. It was his acceptance of Benson as an ideal
that decided Sidgwick in favor of an academic career; and it was
Benson’s implicit preference that led him to choose Trinity College,
Cambridge, rather than to take his headmasters advice to compete
for the Balliol Scholarship which was Rugby’s most coveted schol
arly prize.5 At any rate, in 1855 Sidgwick went to Cambridge where
he was to settle permanently.
•Notes to this chapter begin on page 173.
