Excerpt from The Principle of Individuality in the Philosophy of Thomas Hill Green a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School, of Cornell University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In this monograph no attempt will be made to deal with Greens ethical or political theories, the purpose being rather to examine and define the deeper lying metaphysical principles of which his ethical and political philosophy is but the expression. Such an aim is in keeping with the spirit of Greens philosophy, for he himself tells us that a metaphysic of morals is the proper foundation, though not the whole, of every system of Ethics (Prolegomena to Ethics, sec.2.) It is common enough to deny that there is any vital connection between ethics and metaphysics, and this opinion was probably just as common when Green wrote as it is today, as the Introduction to the Prolegomena clearly shows. With the arguments again which may be brought in support of either side of this question the present study is not concerned; for however such a controversy may eventuate in the abstract, we are not at liberty when we discuss Greens ethics to neglect his own view of the matter. For if he believed, as he most certainly did, that his ethics was intimately and organically bound up with his metaphysics, we would be greatly increasing our chances of failure to understand his ethics by a refusal to study his metaphysics. A lack of deep appreciation of the metaphysics has, I believe, vitiated a great deal of the criticism of the later, and perhaps more dogmatic parts of Greens system. Taking the position that he did, he had a right to assume that his reader would become familiar with his metaphysics and, in case of a disagreement, that the discussion would embrace a consideration of metaphysical principles rather than confine itself to a disputation about rules of morality from the uncritical or factual standpoint of ordinary life. It is, therefore, of the greatest importance for the understanding of Greens philosophy that we first become acquainted with the principles of his metaphysics. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.