Skip to Content

MOORE, GEORGE EDWARD.

Principia Ethica. - [FOUNDING ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY - INTRODUCING THE NATURALISTIC FALLACY]

Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn51385
Cambridge, 1903. 8vo. Orig. brown full cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Gilt armorial centre-piece to front board (indicating that this was a prize from "Coll. di Joh. Bapt."). A bit of bumping to capitals and corners, otherwise fine. Inner hinges slightly weak and a few marginal pencil annotations. XXVII, (1), 232 pp.

First edition of Moore's seminal magnum opus, his hugely influential "Principia Ethica", which helped found analytic philosophy and introduced and named the "naturalistic fallacy". "Moore's "Principia Ethica" (1903) is a landmark in the history of ethics. Its impact and influence on subsequent ethical theory, at least in Anglo-American philosophy, have been tremendous. Its specific doctrines of the indefinability of good and of the naturalistic fallacy, whether reinforced, amended, or even rejected, by later theorists, have served as the starting points of much of twentieth century philosophy." (Morris Weitz, 20th-Century Philosophy: The Analytic Tradition, (1966), p. 68).George Edward Moore (1873-1958) is one of the most influential twentieth century philosophers, and his contributions to analytic philosophy can be compared only to those of Russell, Wittgenstein, and Frege, with whom he founded this philosophical discipline. His impact on Anglo-American philosophy in the 20th century is unsurpassed. "Principia Ethica" is the most important of Moore's works. In this work, he makes use of analysis to establish the main doctrines of the book, and thereby lays one of the cornerstones of analytic philosophy. Moore here applies logic to ethics and shows us how this can provide a better foundation for ethics. Moore begins by showing that analysis will reveal to us that "good" is a simple, non-natural, and indefinable property, which cannot itself be defined and analyzed, because it is not a complex object that can be divided, but a simple object of thought and goes on to define ethics as an inquiry into what is good. He furthermore shows how sometimes false premises in the definition of good lead to false conclusions about ethical behavior and he introduces his seminal concept "naturalistic fallacy", which is defined as the error of assuming that "good" can be defined by naming various properties of things which we believe to be good. "Naturalism", according to Moore falsely assumes to have defined "good" and is therefore unable to provide any logical reason for any principle of ethics."It appears to me that in Ethics, as in all other philosophical studies, the difficulties and disagreements, of which history is full, are mainly due to a very simple cause: namely to the attempt to answer questions, without first discovering precisely WHAT question it is which you desire to answer. " (Moore, Preface, p. VIII). "The influence [of "Principia Ethics"] was not only overwhelming; it was exciting, exhilarating, the beginning of a renaissance, the opening of a new heaven on a new earth, we were the forerunners of a new dispensation, we were not afraid of anything." (Keynes).
Address:
Silkegade 11
DK-1113 Copenhagen
Denmark
Phone:
CVR/VAT:
DK 16 89 50 16

Recently Added From Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S

Anmärkiningar Om biåsestenen. (In:
More Photos
BERGIUS, PETER JONAS
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62692
(Stockholm, 1777). 8vo. As extracted from "Kungl. Svenska vetenskapsakademiens handlingar", uncut unopened. Fine and clean. Pp. 304-309.
Medicinische und philosophische Schrifften von…
More Photos
ALBERTI, MICHAEL.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62695
Halle im Magdeburgischen, Hendel, 1721. 8vo. In contemporary full calf with four raise bands and richly gilt spine. Traces from old paper-label to upper part of spine. Leather on spine cracked, spine-ends slightly chipped. Internally nice and clean. (14), 620, (28) pp. First collected edition of Alberti’s essays. Alberti (1682–1757), professor of medicine and philosophy at Halle and later rector of the university, was a leading disciple of Georg Ernst Stahl who considered the soul as having control on the body. Therapies involved dealing with the internal senses and feelings.
More info
O Capital. (i.e. Portuguese:
More Photos
MARX, CARLOS [KARL] (+) GABRIELLE DEVILLE (+) [Translator:] ALBANO DE MORAES.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62679
Lisboa, De Francisco Luiz Goncalves, 1912. 8vo. In the original red printed cloth-binding with black and white lettering. Spine with loss of the white lettering. Paper-label pasted on to lower inner margin of front board. Very light wear to extremities, Internally very fine and clean. 240 pp. The exceedingly scarce first Portuguese edition of the most important abridged version of Marx's Capital ever to have appeared, published fifty-six years before the first full Portuguese (but published in Brazil) translation and whole sixy-two years before the first full translation published in Portugal. Curiously, two translations of the present work were made 1912 but the present translation seems to have priority (see Bastien, "Readings and Translations of Karl Marx in Portugal"). After the 1933 rise of Salazar's dictatorial Estado Novo regime, suppression of the relatively newly founded Communist party grew. Members were arrested, tortured, and executed and many were sent to the Tarrafal concentration camp in the Cape Verde Islands. Communist literature suffered an equally repressive fate, hence the rarity of the present work. Marxism and especially Marxist writing caught on comparatively late in Portugal: "As for the Socialist Party - supposed to be the main expression of Marxism -, it revealed itself unable to stimulate effective theoretical and doctrinal efforts. Its existence was an example of ambiguity and inconsequence. Its political programme went on mixing Marxian elements, associationist tradition and positivist thinking. Its strategy balanced continuously between an alliance with republican politicians and the maintenance of political autonomy. Its tatics balanced between electoral abstencionism and an involvement in election processes, that never led it to a relevant position in parliament. Even its international relations showed a lasting ambiguity: it had been created according to the instructions of the Marxist majority at the Hague Congress, when most of its members tended to support political abstencionism. When the formation of the Second lnternacional was taking place in Paris in 1889 Portuguese socialists tried to join the Marxist congress, after being present at the possibilist congress. In 1920 they decided to join the Third lnternacional (what was not accomplished), at the same time that an internal reformist turn was taking place." (Bastien, "Readings and Translations of Karl Marx in Portugal"). "The epitome, here translated, was published in Paris, in 1883, by Gabriel Deville, possibly the most brilliant writer among the French Marxians. It is the most successful attempt yet made to popularize Marx's scientific economics. It is by no means free from difficulties, for the subject is essentially a complex and difficult subject, but there are no difficulties that reasonable attention and patience will not enable the average reader to overcome. There is no attempt at originality. The very words in most cases are Marx's own words, and Capital is followed so closely that the first twenty-five chapters correspond in subject and treatment with the first twenty-five chapters of Capital. Chapter XXVI corresponds in the main with Chapter XXVI of Capital, but also contains portions of chapter XXX. The last three chapters-XXVII, XXVIII, and XXIX-correspond to the last three chapters-XXXI, XXXII, and XXXIII-of Capital." (ROBERT RIVES LA MONTE, Intruductory Note to the 1899 English translation). Capital de Marx also had a Portuguese edition at this time, or better, two different editions, both in 1912, but only in translation of the survey of Book I published in France by Gabriel Deville in 1883 (Marx, 1912a and Marx, 1912b). This version omitted material dealt with in at least four chapters of the original text and was not particularly appreciated by Engels. It was a simplified text, aimed at supporting the training of socialist militants and that made it possible for them to have access, indirect, to the work of Marx. The other summaries and anthologies of Capital, which, with a purpose similar to that of Deville, circulated in Europe during this period or ignored in Portugal, as was the case with Carlo Cafiero, or were only occasionally mentioned, as was the case with Paul Lafargue and Karl Kautsky, in its French versions. OCLC list two copies, both in the US.
More info
His Pokhodzhennia vydiv cherez pryrodnyi dobir,…
More Photos
DARWIN, CHARLES.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62681
(Kharkiv), Derzhavne medychne vyd-vo (State Medical Publishing House), 1936. 8vo. In publisher's original grey cloth binding with black lettering to spine with Darwin's portrait embossed on front board. Wear to extremities, corner bumped and light spoling to back board. Inner hinges split and first 3 leaves partly detached. Last 20 ff. slighly creased due to dampstain, otherwise internally a nice and clean copy. 674 pp. + frontispiece, portrait of Darwin and 1 plate with genealogical tree. The exceedingly rare first Ukranian translation of Darwin's landmark 'Origin of Species'. OCLC only list two copies (Library of Congress and The Huntington Library, USA) Freeman F797.
More info
Om Krigen med England. Med Tanker om samme…
More Photos
BOYE, JOHANNES.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62687
Fridericia, S. Elmenhoff, 1809. 8vo. In nice recent marbled paper covered boards with leather title-label with gilt lettering to spine. Ex-libris (Bent W. Dahlstrøm) to verso of front board. A nice and clean copy. 40 pp. Biblioteca Danica III, 572.
Regras methódicas para se aprender a escreuer o…
More Photos
VENTURA DA SILVA, JOAQUIM JOSE.
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S
lyn62100
Lisboa, Officina de Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, 1803. Folio-oblong (365 x 255 mm). In contemporary half calf. Wear to extremies, upper part of spine with loss of leather. Ex-libris pasted on to pasted down front end-paper. With, primarily marginal, brownspotting throughout. Dampstain to inner margin and upper outer margin of last 10 ff. 32 ff. Rare first edition of the most celebrated Portuguese treatise on calligraphy. Joaquim José Ventura da Silva (1777–1849), regarded as one of Portugal’s finest calligraphers and teachers of writing, composed this methodological guide to handwriting in which he combines a historical survey of scripts used in Portugal with practical instruction for teaching and learning penmanship.Ventura da Silva is reffered to by Innocencio (Diccionario Bibliographico) as "one of the best Portuguese Calligraphers". A second edition was published in 1819, a third in 1841, and a facsimile was published in Porto in 1899.
More info