Project Gutenberg 2009-09-06 Public domain in the USA. 271 Thornton, William Thomas 1813 1880 09033061 Old-Fashioned Ethics and Common-Sense Metaphysics With Some of Their Applications E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team "Old-Fashioned Ethics and Common-Sense Metaphysics" by William Thomas Thornton is a philosophical treatise written in the late 19th century. The work delves into ethical principles and metaphysical inquiries, focusing particularly on common-sense approaches to understanding morality, duty, and the human condition. Thornton critiques utilitarianism, exploring the implications of pleasure as the primary object of ethical consideration, while emphasizing the importance of virtue and duty as central to a moral framework. The opening of this thought-provoking work sets the stage for a critical examination of utilitarianism, presenting it as a doctrine that reduces morality to the pursuit of pleasure while failing to account for deeper ethical obligations. Thornton begins by laying out the tenets of utilitarianism and then proceeds to challenge its core tenets through a series of moral dilemmas and thought experiments, arguing that true virtue often requires self-denial and prioritizing the welfare of others over one's own enjoyment. He posits that morality transcends mere utility and calls for a return to ethical principles rooted in duty and virtue, suggesting that a rich moral life cannot be reduced to the pursuit of individual happiness. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 44.2 (College-level). Difficult to read. en Utilitarianism Metaphysics BJ Text Browsing: Philosophy & Ethics Browsing: Religion/Spirituality/Paranormal Category: Philosophy & Ethics 631533 2025-06-12T10:54:24.941898 text/html 638461 2009-09-06T14:56:41 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 223104 2009-09-06T14:58:17 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 326951 2025-06-12T10:54:37.047358 application/epub+zip 331812 2025-06-12T10:54:29.593887 application/epub+zip 298757 2025-06-12T10:54:27.797873 application/epub+zip 664344 2025-06-12T10:54:42.487379 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 615153 2025-06-12T10:54:35.558339 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 407376 2022-09-14T03:35:32.106988 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 569839 2025-06-12T10:54:23.973909 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 569583 2009-09-06T14:54:53 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 210575 2009-09-06T14:54:53 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 569617 2009-09-06T14:54:53 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 210444 2009-09-06T14:54:53 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20593 2025-06-12T10:54:42.652345 application/rdf+xml 24305 2025-06-12T10:54:28.394893 image/jpeg 4895 2025-06-12T10:54:28.098876 image/jpeg 311996 2025-06-12T10:54:24.994888 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia