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.

Preface
Prologue: The Problem

PART I. BACKGROUND
1. Theory and Practice
2. The Roots of Casuistry in Antiquity
3. Cicero: Philosopher, Orator, Legislator

PART II. THE PRECURSORS
4. Christian Origins
5. The Canonists and Confessors
6. The Theologians

PART III. HIGH CASUISTRY
7. Sumrnists and Jesuits
8. Texts, Authors, and Methods

PART IV. THREE SAMPLES OF CASUISTRY
9. Profit: The Case of Usury
10. Perjury: The Case of Equivocation
11. Pride: The Case of the Insulted Gentleman

PART V. THE CRISIS
12. Casuistry Confounded: Pascal's Critique
13. The Achievement of Casuistry

PART VI. THE FUTURE OF CASUISTRY
14. After The Provincial Letters
15. Philosophy and the Springs of Morality
16. The Revival of Casuistry
17. Epilogue: Conscience and the Claims of Equity

Appendix
Notes
Name Index
Subject Index