Four Phases of Morals: Socrates, Aristotle, Christianity, Utilitarianism

A distinguished Victorian classicist maps the great moral traditions that shaped Western civilization, from the Socratic dialogs of ancient Athens to the calculating rationality of 19th-century utilitarianism. John Stuart Blackie, Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh, traces how each philosophical phase responded to its predecessors and to the fundamental human question: how should we live? Beginning with Socrates as the indispensable cornerstone Blackie moves through Aristotle's systematic treatment of virtue and happiness, then examines the revolutionary moral contribution of Christianity, and concludes with the radical new ethics of Bentham and Mill. What emerges is not merely a history of ideas but an argument about moral progress: that each phase retains something essential even as it is superseded. Written with the conviction that ethical reflection remains vital to human flourishing, this 1871 work offers both intellectual rigor and Victorian moral earnestness to readers seeking to understand where modern ethics came from and what it has inherited.