GREEN, THOMAS HILL. - English philosopher, b. at Birkin (Yorkshire) on 7 Apr. 1836, d. at Oxford on 26 March 1882. From 1878 until his death he held the White's Chair of Moral Philosophy at Balliol College.
He can be considered the founder of English idealism of Kantian and Hegelian inspiration (McTaggart and Bradley), rethought through that of Berkeley with influences from Hume's phenomenalism. In fact, according to G., what is called "real" is nothing but the set of perceptions having a constant connection (which, however, is only of a spiritual and cognitive nature), whose foundation is a universal Consciousness. The cognitive activity of individual and finite consciousnesses is an effort to conform to the one universal Consciousness, just as moral activity is the effort by which subjects seek to attain the supreme end. Action is ethical when man perfectly realizes the determinate end and, at the same time, feels its inadequacy with respect to the unattainable ultimate end. The universal Consciousness of which G. speaks is not a personal God, but an impersonal first and absolute Cause.
Bibliography5 worksWorks: Works, 3 vols., edited by R. L. Nettleship, London 1885-88 (the Lectures on the principles of political obligation, published posthum
BIBL.: Works: Works, 3 vols., edited by R. L. Nettleship, London 1885-88 (the Lectures on the principles of political obligation, published posthumously, ibid. 1901, are not included), among which notable are the Introduction to Hume's Treatise on human nature (ibid. 1874) and the Prolegomena to ethics (ibid. 1882, 2nd ed. 1884; Italian trans. by C. Goretti, Milan 1925). Studies: W. H. Fairbrother, The philosophy of T. H. G., London 1896; H. Singwick, Lectures on the ethics of G. Spencer and Martiaux, ibid. 1902; C. Goretti, L'opera e il pensiero di T. H. G. (introductory preface to the Italian trans. cited, pp. 1-27); N. Abbagnano, L'idealismo inglese e americano, Naples 1926.
Sciacca, Michele Federico. “Green, thomas hill.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, coll. 1078–1079. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/green-thomas-hill.
MLA
Sciacca, Michele Federico. “Green, thomas hill.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 1078–1079. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/green-thomas-hill.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec6_green_thomas_hill,
author = {Sciacca, Michele Federico},
title = {Green, thomas hill},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VI},
pages = {1078--1079},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/green-thomas-hill}
}
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