Moral Concepts and their History

Edward Skidelsky

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781000529272
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

This edited volume is devoted to the history of moral concepts, including shame, contempt, happiness, conscience, cleanliness and 'the brick'.

The chapters in this book are written from the diverse perspectives of the philosopher, theologian, linguist and historian of ideas. However, they are united in the conviction that these concepts are illuminated by being treated historically; or even, more strongly, that we cannot fully understand what they are now without knowing the history of how they have come to be. Viewed in this way, the history of moral concepts is a crucial preliminary to moral self-understanding, as well as an interesting enquiry in its own right.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the History of European Ideas.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction
• 1 Hans in Luck or the moral economy of happiness in the modern age
• 2 What moral philosophers can learn from the history of moral concepts
• 3 Conscience: what is its history and does it have a future?
• 4 What’s wrong with subjective rights?
• 5 How contempt became a passion
• 6 Shame in early modern thought: from sin to sociability
• 7 ‘Next to godliness?’ exploring cleanliness in peace and war
• 8 ‘You’re a brick’: colloquialism and the history of moral concepts
• Index