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The Idea of Moral PhilosophyA Critical Edition

By James Dundas

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Published 31 January 2027

About this book

Presents a unique full-length systematic moral philosophy monograph written in Scotland in the seventeenth century

  • Provides an entirely new source for the study of pre-Enlightenment Scotland
  • Offers the only book-length systematic monograph on moral philosophy from seventeenth-century Scotland
  • Presents a high-quality philosophical work that offers wide-ranging Reformed scholastic philosophy, engages with early modern philosophers, and anticipates Enlightenment themes
  • Includes the original Latin text and English translation, along with scholarly notes and indexes

The discovery of the unpublished Idea philosophiae moralis, written by James Dundas, first Lord Arniston, in 1679, is of great significance for Scottish intellectual history. Offering a unique synthesis of Reformed scholasticism and early modern philosophy, and engaging with thinkers such as Descartes, Hobbes and Seneca, the book reflects and highlights the richness of pre-Enlightenment Scottish philosophy.

Alexander Broadie and Giovanni Gellera situate this important book in relation both to the cultural context of the period and to James Dundas’s biography. This prominent figure, in seventeenth-century Scottish public life, can now also be acknowledged as a philosopher. This edition presents the original Latin text and the English translation, along with scholarly apparatus of notes to the text and indexes.

Reviews

For a long time, Scotland in the 17th century has been a philosophical desert between the prowess of Scottish logicians in the 16th, and the extraordinary flourishing of Scottish philosophy in the 18th. This innovative book dramatically changes the picture, and fills the gap with the work of James Dundas.
The appearance of the hitherto unpublished Idea of Moral Philosophy by James Dundas offers valuable insight into the confluence of theology and philosophy in early modern Scotland. In providing us with a critical edition of the Latin manuscript together with an English translation and introduction to the life and work of Dundas, the editors have produced a volume that will assist those seeking a better understanding of the transition from Reformed orthodoxy to the Enlightenment in Scotland. This is a notable contribution to Scottish intellectual history.
Table of contents

Acknowledgements
Editorial Principles

Introduction
Idea philosophiae moralis
The Idea of Moral Philosophy

Bibliography
Index

About the contributors

Alexander Broadie

Alexander Broadie is honorary professorial research fellow and emeritus professor of logic and rhetoric at Glasgow University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, holds a PhD and a DLitt from Glasgow University and a DUniv honoris causa from Blaise Pascal University (Clermont-Ferrand). He has published twenty books, the majority of them on the history of Scottish philosophy. Recent publications include, Philosophical Discourse in Seventeenth-Century Scotland: Key Texts (Boydell Press for the Scottish History Society, forthcoming), Scottish Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century (ed. A. Broadie, OUP 2020) and A History of Scottish Philosophy (EUP 2009) (Saltire Society Scottish History Book of the Year for 2009).

Giovanni Gellera

Giovanni Gellera is Assistant Professor at the Institut d’histoire de la Réformation and the Faculté Autonome de Théologie Protestante, University of Geneva. He holds a PhD from the School of Humanities, University of Glasgow (2012) for a thesis on seventeenth-century Scottish philosophy. He is currently the principal investigator of a Swiss National Science Foundation Consolidator Grant on John Mair (2024-2029). His research areas are medieval and early modern philosophy, with a focus on Scotland and the long Reformation.