Abstract

Just a hundred years ago Francis Herbert Bradley wrote the first edition of Ethical Studies, which alone is reason enough for considering once again this work which seems to have suffered such neglect in this century. Part of the reason for this neglect is no doubt the very difficulty of his writing. Like Hegel, from whom he took so much, Bradley makes little or no concessions to the reader and, at times at any rate, writes in a most inaccessible manner. To attempt to make more accessible the central point of Ethical Studies would be another reason for looking once again at this work. But there is another, and we feel the most important reason, namely, our belief that this central theme has been largely misunderstood and misinterpreted.