SIDGWICK, HENRY. — Philosopher, b. May 31, 1838 at Skipton (Yorkshire), d. Aug. 28, 1900 at Cambridge. He studied at Cambridge. Fellow of Trinity College (1859), he was appointed (1869) to teach moral philosophy and, later, also political philosophy. In 1882 he was elected president of the Society for Psychical Research, of which he was one of the principal promoters.
Sidgwick BENTHAM, JEREMY (v.) and J. MELLO (v.), though in consequence of his studies of Kant’s philosophy he shows a keener awareness of the difficulties in reconciling the altruistic imperative of the system with its hedonistic concept of the good. For Sidgwick, the act by which one apprehends the “desirability” of a thing possesses an objective and interpersonal value and is, at the same time, a pleasant state of consciousness. The same hedonistic orientation of subjective life therefore requires choosing ends that are valid for all and overcoming selfish tendencies. In the field of parapsychology, he merits recognition for having conducted one of the first experimental investigations into the phenomena of telepathy (v.).
Principal works: Methods of Ethics (London 1875, 6th ed. 1901); History of Ethics (ibid. 1879, 4th ed. 1896); Principles of Political Economy (ibid. 1883); The Elements of Politics (ibid. 1891); Practical Ethics (ibid. 1898); Philosophy, Its Scope and Relations (ibid. 1902); The Philosophy of Kant and Other Lectures and Essays (ibid. 1905).