Ethics from a Phenomenological Point of view with an emphasis on the works of Max Scheler

Abstract

The main issue of this article is an overview of Scheler’s phenomenological attitude toward Ethics. From the very beginning of phenomenology he decided to apply this attitude to the realms of Ethics and Religion. to achieve this goal, thus, by some innovations in phenomenology and by establishing a system which depends on non-formal values he tried to apply phenomenological attitude to the realm of Ethics and rejected formal attitudes such as Kant’s. For Scheler dependence on these formal systems in domain of Ethics results in negligence of values as basic phenomena in moral experience of man. Since values in his approach appeared through feelings, Kant’s denial of  values as well as advocating formal systems of Ethics lead to denial of feelings. For clarifying the role of feelings, Scheler makes a distinction between feelings of something (intentional feelings) and feeling states and introduces the feelings of something as the main guide to the apprehension of values.