The point of view of the universe: Sidgwick and the ambitions of ethics

Abstract

The ambition to construct a systematic ethical theory reveals a fundamental tension between impartial rationality and the practical conditions of human agency. By evaluating the methods of egoism, intuitionism, and utilitarianism, it becomes evident that while utilitarianism offers a framework for systematizing moral common sense, it remains anchored in abstract intuitive axioms. The most significant of these, the “point of view of the universe,” requires a level of impartiality that necessitates a dissociation between theoretical justification and the “thick” dispositions that constitute an individual’s moral identity. This gap leads to a model of esoteric morality where a reflexive theory governs a practice it cannot openly acknowledge. Because an agent’s deepest commitments are essentially non-instrumental and tied to a particular perspective, they cannot be fully translated into the abstract, additive logic of universal benevolence. This structural failure to reconcile the detached perspective of the theorist with the lived experience of the agent suggests that any ethical theory attempting to systematize practice from an impersonal standpoint is inherently incoherent. The impossibility of maintaining a transparent relationship between theory and practice indicates that the project of systematic moral philosophy is fundamentally flawed. – AI-generated abstract.