Moritz Schlick: Fragen der Ethik, Band 3

Throughout his lifetime, ethical questions have played a prominent role in Moritz Schlicks thought and philosophy. If we compare and contrast the entirety of this works to those he wrote on ethical issues (published or unpublished ones), as well as to his scientific and private correspondence (which has, up to now, only been partly evaluated), it becomes evident that, besides with other questions, it was above all the sense and the meaning of life and a generally acceptable morality Schlick had been concerned with since his early youth. It is also remarkable that, throughout the years, his conception of ethics as a psychologically founded "philosophy of happiness" had not undergone any substantial changes. Volume 3 of the Critical Edition of Moritz Schlicks Complete Works brings together for the first time two writings which mark the cornerstones of Schlicks almost 40 years lasting concern with ethical and moral questions: His first book "Lebensweisheit. Versuch einer Glückseligkeitslehre", which was published in 1907 and has not been reedited ever since, and "Fragen der Ethik", published in 1930. In the recent decades, research on Schlicks ethics has been focussing on that later work , not in the last place because of ist reedition (Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp 1984) as well as of the publication of several translations. It is thus the more important that in the present edition both works have been brought together for the first time. Both texts are based on their corresponding first editions, they have been compared to the manuscripts and typoscripts in Schlicks literary estate and have been extensivly commented on. Together, and put into their context, they will provide new and valuable insights in the development of Schlicks thoughts on ethics and morality. From the very beginning, Schlicks ethics has been determined mainly two important historical - philosophical positions: Darwins evolution theory on the one side, and the models of a philosophy of life based on self- experience, as formulated by Schopenhauer, Guyau, and Nietzsche, and later on by Dilthey, Bergson, and Scheler. In the present edition, these influences have been extensively documented in footnotes.