Hastings Rashdall (24 June 1858 – 9 February 1924) was an English philosopher,

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, historian, and

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest. He expounded a theory known as ideal utilitarianism, and he was a major historian of the universities of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Biography

Born in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, on 24 June 1858, Rashdall was the son of an

priest. He was educated at Harrow and received a scholarship for New College, Oxford. After short tenures at

St David's University College University of Wales, Lampeter ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru, Llanbedr Pont Steffan) was a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822, and incorporated by royal charter in 1828, it was the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales, with limited ...

and

University College, Durham , motto_English = Not for ourselves alone , scarf = , established = , principal = Wendy Powers , vice_principal = Ellen Crabtree , undergraduates = 698 , postgraduates = 153 , coordinates = , location_map = Durham , map_size ...

, Rashdall was made a Fellow of first

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

, then

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, and dedicates his main work, ''

The Theory of Good and Evil ''The Theory of Good and Evil'' is a 1907 book about ethics by the English philosopher Hastings Rashdall. The book, which has been compared to the philosopher G. E. Moore's ''Principia Ethica'' (1903), is Rashdall's best known work, and is consid ...

'' (1907), to the memory of his teachers T. H. Green and

Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (; 31 May 1838 – 28 August 1900) was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist. He was the Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1883 until his death, and is best known in philos ...

. The dedication is appropriate, for the particular version of utilitarianism put forward by Rashdall owes elements to both Green and Sidgwick. Whereas he holds that the concepts of good and value are logically prior to that of right, he gives right a more than instrumental significance. His idea of good owes more to Green than to the hedonistic utilitarians. "The ideal of human life is not the mere juxtaposition of distinct goods, but a whole in which each good is made different by the presence of others." Rashdall has been eclipsed as a moral philosopher by G. E. Moore, who advocated similar views in his earlier work ''

Principia Ethica ''Principia Ethica'' is a 1903 book by the British philosopher G. E. Moore, in which the author insists on the indefinability of "good" and provides an exposition of the naturalistic fallacy. ''Principia Ethica'' was influential, and Moore's a ...

'' (1903). Rashdall was also a Berkeleyan, believing in metaphysical

idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...

. His historical study, ''The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages'', was described in the introduction to its recent reprinting as "one of the first comparative works on the subject" whose "scope and breadth has assured its place as a key work in intellectual history." His ''The Idea of Atonement in Christian Theology'' surveyed different approaches to the Christian doctrine of

atonement Atonement (also atoning, to atone) is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some other ...

, concluding with an influential defence of the "subjective" theory of the atonement that Rashdall attributed to both

Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This source has a detailed desc ...

and

Peter Lombard Peter Lombard (also Peter the Lombard, Pierre Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; 1096, Novara – 21/22 July 1160, Paris), was a scholastic theologian, Bishop of Paris, and author of '' Four Books of Sentences'' which became the standard textbook of ...

. Rashdall argued that the "objective" view of the atonement associated with

Anselm of Canterbury Anselm of Canterbury, OSB (; 1033/4–1109), also called ( it, Anselmo d'Aosta, link=no) after his birthplace and (french: Anselme du Bec, link=no) after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher and theologian of th ...

was inadequate, and that the most authentically Christian doctrine was that Christ's life was a demonstration of God's love so profound that Christ was willing to die rather than compromise his character. This in turn inspires believers to emulate his character and his intimacy with the Father. Rashdall received the degree

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

(DL) from New College, Oxford, in October 1901. He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1904 to 1907, a member of the Christian Social Union from its inception in 1890, and was an influential

modernist theologian of the time, being appointed to a canonry in 1909. He was

Dean of Carlisle The Dean of Carlisle is based in Carlisle, UK and is the head of the Chapter of Carlisle Cathedral. There have been 39 previous incumbents and the post is currently vacant. List of deans Early modern *1542–1547 Lancelot Salkeld (last prio ...

from 1917 to 1924, and died of cancer in

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

on 9 February 1924.

Selected works

*
''Doctrine and Development: University Sermons''
(1898)
''New College''
(with

Robert Rait Sir Robert Sangster Rait (10 February 1874 – 25 May 1936) was a Scottish historian, Historiographer Royal and Principal of the University of Glasgow. Early life Rait was born in 1874 in Narborough, Leicestershire to Scottish parents, although ...

, 1901)
''Christus in Ecclesia: Sermons on the Church and Its Institutions''
(1904)
''The Theory of Good and Evil''
(1907)
''Ethics''
(undated)
''Philosophy and Religion''
(1910)
''Is Conscience an Emotion? Three Lectures on Recent Ethical Theories''
(1914)
''Conscience and Christ: Six Lectures on Christian Ethics''
(1916)
''The Idea of Atonement in Christian Theology''
(London: Macmillan, 1919)
''The Moral Argument for Personal Immortality''
in ''King's College Lectures on Immortality'' (1920)
''God and Man''
1930

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links