Ethical Values in the Age of Science

In this 1969 text, Paul Roubiczek argues that in the age of science there is still a place for ethics and a need for the philosophical method. He attempts to prove this by examining the contributions of three disciplines - history, psychology and sociology - towards man's understanding of his moral involvement with society. By illustrating that all three leave gaps or lead to contradictions, he poses the question of whether it is possible to speak of an absolute morality, which he answers by confronting 'objective method' with 'subjective method'. Only the latter can lead to a full understanding of ethics. Later, Roubiczek goes on to examine different ethical teachings, in particular, Kant's theory of knowledge and ethics, and shows that acceptance of an unconditional ethical teaching requires a Kierkegaardian 'leap into the unknown'. However, he claims that, in the field of ethics, the leap turns out to be certainty.