Christian Ethics

Christian Ethics by Dietrich von Hildebrand, 463 pages

 

In this work, 20th century philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand makes an attempt to provide a new foundation of ethics through a phenomenological analysis of the concept of value.  Value, he demonstrates, is an objective fact which is perceptible before analysis.  It follows that ethics becomes a matter responding to encountered values.  This, in turn, requires an analysis of the nature of will and freedom.  Virtues, then, exist as superactual attitudes.  Above all, this account of morality involves the transcending of subjectively satisfying goods in favor of conformity to objective, transpersonal values, a task handicapped by pride and concupiscence. 

 

Although this is an explicitly Christian work, it is also an original work of philosophy.  Von Hildebrand does not base his conclusions on dogma, rather, he uses the experiences of the Church as a source of data for his philosophical explorations.  Christianity is viewed not as the negation of natural morality, but its fulfillment.

In every way a landmark work, a masterpiece that no summary can do justice.  While it can be read with profit by itself, its full significance is as part of von Hildebrand's lifelong work, which also includes In Defense of Purity, The Nature of Love, Graven Images, and Transformation In Christ.