The Idea of Moral Philosophy

The discovery of the unpublished Idea philosophiae moralis, written by James Dundas, first Lord Arniston, in 1679, is of great significance for Scottish intellectual history.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.