Social Rights And Duties

Shared moral problems bring believers and doubters into the same conversation in Leslie Stephen's addresses to London's Ethical Societies. This first volume gathers discussions of ethical societies, science and politics, political economy, competition, social equality, and the struggle for existence. In the opening address, Stephen considers how people divided by religious doctrine can still treat one another with sympathy and cooperate in practical moral work.

The economic discussion asks what economists can explain about the industrial arrangements of their time and how that knowledge might support social improvement. Stephen stresses careful interpretation of historical facts and an understanding of existing institutions before proposing changes. Readers interested in social ethics will find arguments that connect broad moral aims with the limits of scientific claims, the workings of competition, and the difficult business of judging reform.