De-Psychologizing Benevolence. Lotze’s Ethics between Kant, Herbart, and the British Moralists

In this article I examine R. H. Lotze’s attempt to ground morality in benevolence without thereby appealing to the constitution of human nature. In the first section I consider Francis Hutcheson’s earlier approach, who understands benevolence as a fundamental affection characterizing our psychology. The second section briefly turns to Kant’s critique of Hutcheson. The third section discusses some basic concerns of Lotze’s ethics. Subsequently I reconstruct Lotze’s analysis in chapter two of the Grundzüge der praktischen Philosophie, where he puts forward the claim about the foundational role of benevolence for ethics. I conclude with some considerations about the promise and problems of Lotze’s approach.