By Vernon J. Bourke

The History of Ethics

When first published in 1968, Vernon J. Bourke’s The History of Ethics became the first full-scale, English-language history of the subject since Henry Sidgwick’s 1886 Outlines of the History of Ethics. 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. 

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: 502pp.

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

ISBN: 978-1952826221