By Vernon J. Bourke

When first published in 1968, Vernon J. Bourke’s The History of Ethics was the first full-scale, English-language history of the subject since Henry Sidgwick’s 1886 Outlines of the History of Ethics. In this masterful philosophical survey, Bourke addresses the many lacunae of Sigwick’s Outlines, especially with regard to the Medieval era, and also accomplishes what Alasdair MacIntyre’s Short History of Ethics could not, by means of a comprehensive presentation of twentieth-century moral philosophers. This new edition restores Bourke’s work to a single volume, thus providing an uninterrupted account of the ethical theories of Western philosophy from its beginnings, five hundred years before Christ, to the 1960s. 

From the time of the first Greek philosophers, ethics has had but one meaning: it is the reflective study of what is good or bad in that part of human conduct for which man has some personal responsibility. (Vernon J. Bourke)

The History of Ethics emphasizes the key contributions of numerous ethicians with focused treatments that avoid verbiage, while also engaging an expository, rather than critical, approach, in order to allow the theories and thinkers to stand (or fall) on their own merit.

Vernon J. Bourke (1907–1998) was an author and professor of philosophy and theology. A student of Etienne Gilson’s at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, he specialized in moral philosophy and was critical in the development of the Augustinian and Thomistic traditions in the twentieth century. His masterpiece, Augustine’s Quest of Wisdom, is acclaimed as a milestone in Augustinian studies.

Paperback & E-book: 490pp.

E-book: Immediately following purchase, an .epub file and a .mobi (Kindle) file are available for download.

ISBN: 978-1952826221