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University of California Press

The Abuse of Casuistry

A History of Moral Reasoning
by Albert R. Jonsen (Author), Stephen Toulmin (Author)
Paperback
Price: $33.95 / £29.00
Publication Date: Jan 1990
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 432
ISBN: 9780520069602
Trim Size: 6 x 9
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About the Book

In this engaging study, the authors put casuistry into its historical context, tracing the origin of moral reasoning in antiquity, its peak during the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, and its subsequent fall into disrepute from the mid-seventeenth century.

About the Author

Albert R. Jonsen is Professor of Ethics in Medicine and Chairman, Department of Medical Humanities, University of Washington School of Medicine. Stephen Toulmin is Avalon Foundation Professor of the Humanities at Northwestern University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Prologue: The Problem

PART I. BACKGROUND
1. Theory and Practice
2. The Roots of Casuistry in Antiquity
3. Cicero: Philosopher, Orator, Legislator

PART II. THE PRECURSORS
4. Christian Origins
5. The Canonists and Confessors
6. The Theologians

PART III. HIGH CASUISTRY
7. Sumrnists and Jesuits
8. Texts, Authors, and Methods

PART IV. THREE SAMPLES OF CASUISTRY
9. Profit: The Case of Usury
10. Perjury: The Case of Equivocation
11. Pride: The Case of the Insulted Gentleman

PART V. THE CRISIS
12. Casuistry Confounded: Pascal's Critique
13. The Achievement of Casuistry

PART VI. THE FUTURE OF CASUISTRY
14. After The Provincial Letters
15. Philosophy and the Springs of Morality
16. The Revival of Casuistry
17. Epilogue: Conscience and the Claims of Equity

Appendix
Notes
Name Index
Subject Index

Reviews

"The book will lead to a reinterpretation of the history of western morals. . . . It's an excellent book."—Baruch A. Brody, Baylor College of Medicine