1. How to establish the fundamental ethical dictum that every human being ought to count, and is intrinsically worth while. This dictum has been denied by many of the greatest thinkers, who assert the intrinsic inferiority of some men, the intrinsic superiority of others. The practice of the world also runs most distinctly contrary to it. How then is it to be validated?
2. The problem of how to attach a precise meaning to the term “spiritual,” thereby divesting it of the flavor of sentimentality and vagueness that attaches to it.
3. How to link up the world’s activities in science, art, politics, business, to the supreme ethical end.
4. How to lay foundations whereon to erect the conviction that there verily is a supersensible reality.
For the repetitions that occur throughout the volume indulgence is requested. In presenting an unfamiliar system of thought they may sometimes assist the reader in retaining the thread.
The work is conceived as a whole, and should be read through before any part of it is more minutely examined. The theory of Part II especially should be read in the light of the applications submitted in Parts III and IV.
CONTENTS
| [BOOK I] | ||
| AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION | ||
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | Prelude | [3] |
| II. | The Hebrew Religion | [14] |
| III. | Emerson | [27] |
| IV. | The Teachings of Jesus | [30] |
| V. | Social Reform | [43] |
| VI. | The Influence of My Vocation on Inner Development | [58] |
| [BOOK II] | ||
| PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY | ||
| I. | Introductory Remarks: Critique of Kant | [73] |
| II. | Critique of Kant (Continued) | [82] |
| III. | Preliminary Remarks on Worth, and on the ReasonsWhy the Method Employed by EthicsMust Be the Opposite of That Employed bythe Physical Sciences | [91] |
| IV. | The Ideal of the Whole | [100] |
| V. | The Ideal of the Whole and the Ethical Manifold | [114] |
| VI. | The Ideal of the Spiritual Universe and the God-Ideal | [125] |
| [BOOK III] | ||
| APPLICATIONS: THE THREE SHADOWS, SICKNESS,SORROW AND SIN, AND THE RIGHT TO LIFE,PROPERTY AND REPUTATION | ||
| I. | Introduction | [147] |
| II. | The Three Shadows: Sickness, Sorrow, Sin | [154] |
| III. | Bereavement | [162] |
| IV. | The Shadow of Sin | [171] |
| V. | The Spiritual Attitude to be Observed towardsFellow-Men in General, Irrespective of theSpecial Relations Which Connect Us MoreClosely with Some than Others | [179] |
| VI. | The Meaning of Forgiveness | [202] |
| VII. | The Supreme Ethical Rule: Act so as to Elicitthe Best in Others and Thereby in Thyself | [208] |
| VIII. | The Supreme Ethical Rule (Continued) | [220] |
| IX. | How to Learn to See the Spiritual Numen inOthers | [223] |
| [BOOK IV] | ||
| APPLICATIONS: THE ETHICS OF THE FAMILY, THESTATE, THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, ETC. | ||
| I. | The Collective Task of Mankind and the Three-foldReverence | [241] |
| II. | The Family | [249] |
| III. | The Vocations | [260] |
| IV. | The Practical Vocations | [270] |
| V. | The Vocation of the Artist: Outline of a Theoryof the Relation of Art to Ethics | [277] |
| VI. | Educational Vocations, or Vocations Connectedwith the State | [289] |
| VII. | The State | [305] |
| VIII. | The National Character Spiritually Transformed:the International Society, or theOrganization of Mankind | [324] |
| IX. | Religious Fellowship as the Culminating SocialInstitution | [341] |
| X. | The Last Outlook on Life | [354] |
| APPENDIX | ||
| Appendix I: Spiritual Self-Discipline | [365] | |
| Appendix II: The Exercise of Force in the Interest ofFreedom | [369] | |
| INDEX | [375] | |