Customer Reviews

Morality and Conflict

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Stuart Hampshire has had an interesting career. In addition to being one of the leading Anglo-American philosophers of the 20th century, he was also involved in military intelligence during and after WWII. (Apparently the Soviets tried, unsuccessfully, to "turn" him!) I think that Hampshire's real world experience has helped deepen his moral reflections

This book is a collection of thoughtful essays on various moral topics. All the essays are interesting, but I think "Two Theories of Morality" alone would make the book worth buying. The two theories Hampshire discusses are Aristotle's and Spinoza's. Hampshire explains how an ethic like Aristotle's can be rational, without being scientific. He then turns to Spinoza, whose exploration of the concept(s) of freedom is characteristic of post-Aristotelian, modern thought.

I think the general reader will find these essays challenging but accessible. (A philosopher colleague once told me that he found them obscure, but I think that is because the essays are so common-sensical that they are obscure to those ruined by too much academic philosophy!)