A Theory of Conduct

A Theory of Conduct is a work of moral philosophy or ethical theology by Archibald Alexander, the American Presbyterian theologian who lived from 1772 to 1851 and who served as the founding professor of Princeton Theological Seminary from 1812 until his death. Alexander produced substantial writings on the practical, theological, and philosophical dimensions of the Reformed Christian tradition across his long career at Princeton.

The book belongs to Alexander’s interest in moral philosophy as the foundation for Christian ethical thinking. Nineteenth century American Reformed theology took seriously the relationship between general moral philosophy as taught in the major colleges of the period and the specifically Christian ethics that the seminaries were producing for the use of working clergy. Alexander, who had himself been trained in the Scottish Common Sense philosophical tradition that dominated American college teaching during the period, brought to his theological work a substantial engagement with the philosophical questions about the foundations of moral judgement.

The Theory of Conduct addresses the standard topics that a serious nineteenth century moral philosophy work would cover. There are sections on the nature and origin of moral feeling, on the relationship between conscience and reason in the formation of moral judgements, on the foundations of moral obligation, on the various theories of the good that had been proposed by the major modern moral philosophers, and on the relationship between general moral philosophy and the specifically Christian ethical demands that the Reformed tradition emphasized. Alexander’s position is broadly compatible with the moderate Scottish Common Sense moral philosophy of writers like Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart, modified by the specifically Reformed emphasis on the role of divine grace in actual moral conduct.

The book is mostly of interest now to readers of nineteenth century American Reformed theology and to those interested in the engagement between American Presbyterian thought and the philosophical traditions that surrounded it. It pairs naturally with Alexander’s other theological works and with the broader Princeton Theology tradition.