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 authors meticulously outline the first methodological structure of casuistry. This contribution alone certainly ranks it among the works on prudence by earlier continental writers like Demain, Lottin and Capone."—James F. Keenan, S. J., Theological Studies

"The authors' theoretical points are important and will repay careful consideration. . . . A fascinating introduction to the work of philosophers and theologians whose work, in the authors' opinion and in mine, has suffered a long and unjustified obscurity."—Kenneth W. Kemp, Ethics

"This is a path-breaking examination of the history of ethical case analysis."—Steven H. Miles, Journal of the American Medical Association

"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