Single Idea 21788

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / b. Defining ethics]

Full Idea

Whereas the moral will understands the good to be something which it can recognise or determine by itself, the ethical will acknowledges the good to be something actual which it encounters in the world about it.

Gist of Idea

The moral will is self-determining, but the ethical will is met in society

Source

Stephen Houlgate (An Introduction to Hegel [1991], 08 'Freedom')

Book Reference

Houlgate,Stephen: 'An Introduction to Hegel' [Blackwell 2005], p.195


A Reaction

I think these two terms have become blurred - or at least I have thoroughly lost track of them. I'm not sure whether it is good to have distinct terms for (Kantian) personal choice and for social expectations. Ethics is what Nietzsche attacks.

Related Idea

Idea 21790 Moral individuals become ethical when they see the social aspect of a matter [Hegel, by Houlgate]