Moral Philosophy

Moral Philosophy by Joseph Rickaby is a substantial textbook in Catholic moral philosophy by the English Jesuit philosopher and theologian who lived from 1845 to 1932. The book was originally published in 1888 as part of the Stonyhurst Philosophical Series, the substantial multi volume set of philosophical textbooks produced by the English Jesuit philosophy faculty at Stonyhurst College for use in Catholic philosophical education across the English speaking world.

The Stonyhurst Philosophical Series was one of the major late nineteenth century English Catholic philosophical projects. The various volumes covered the standard topics of the scholastic philosophical curriculum including logic, general metaphysics, special metaphysics including psychology and natural theology, ethics, and political philosophy. The series provided the basic textbooks for English language Catholic seminaries and Catholic colleges through the late nineteenth and into the mid twentieth century, and the various volumes including Rickaby’s Moral Philosophy went through multiple editions and were widely used internationally.

Rickaby’s Moral Philosophy covered the standard topics of scholastic Catholic moral philosophy in accessible English language form. The book opens with the general principles of moral action, including the nature of the moral act, the various sources of moral judgement, the role of conscience, and the basic principles of moral obligation. The middle sections develop the particular ethical applications including questions of justice, of the various duties owed to God, to oneself, to neighbours, and to the political community. The closing sections take up the special ethical questions of property, of the state, of work, and of the various specific situations that practical Catholic ethical thinking had to address.

The philosophical position throughout reflects the neo scholastic Catholic philosophical tradition that was being substantially developed during the late nineteenth century under the influence of Pope Leo XIII’s 1879 encyclical Aeterni Patris, which had called for the revival of the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas as the foundation of contemporary Catholic philosophical education. Rickaby and his Stonyhurst colleagues were among the leading English language exponents of the developing neo scholastic tradition, and the book provides a representative example of the kind of philosophical work the tradition produced for educational purposes.

The book is essential reading for anyone studying the late nineteenth century neo scholastic Catholic philosophical tradition or the broader history of English language Catholic philosophical education. It pairs naturally with the other volumes of the Stonyhurst Philosophical Series.