Available From UC Press

The Abuse of Casuistry

A History of Moral Reasoning
Albert R. Jonsen, Stephen Toulmin
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.
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.
"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