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• Introduction
• Note On the Texts
• Acknowledgments
• Book I
• Preliminaries
• Section I: Of Man and His Connections
• Section II: Of Duty, Or Moral Obligation
• Section III: Various Hypotheses Concerning Moral Obligation
• Section IV: The Final Causes of Our Moral Facultiesof Perception and Affection
• Book Ii
• Section I: The Principal Distinctions of Duty Or Virtue
• Section II: Of Man’s Duty to Himself. of the Nature of Good, and the Chief Good
• Section III: Duties to Society
• Chapter I: Filial and Fraternal Duty
• Chapter II: Concerning Marriage
• Chapter III: Of Parental Duty
• Chapter IV: Herile and Servile Duty
• Chapter V: Social Duties of the Private Kind
• Chapter VI: Social Duties of the Commercial Kind
• Chapter VII: Social Duties of the Political Kind
• Section IV: Duty to God
• Book Iii
• Section I: Of Practical Ethics, Or the Culture of the Mind
• Section II: Motives to Virtue From Personal Happiness
• Section III: Motives to Virtue From the Being and Providence of God
• Section IV: Motive to Virtue From the Immortality of the Soul, &c.
• Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Many are the debts I have incurred over my years of working on David Fordyce; only a few of those debts can here be acknowledged. The Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society and Richard B. Sher have provided genial and encouraging venues for my explorations. Norman Fiering, who initially sparked my interest in Fordyce, assisted me on this project with some difficult references, as did Edward V. George. Gilbert Meilaender puzzled with me over Fordyce’s handwriting, as well as some Greek and Latin phrases.

Above all, I am grateful for the interest that M. A. Stewart has shown in my work on Fordyce, and the errors from which he has rescued me, and to the general editor of this series, Knud Haakonssen, whose vast knowledge is equaled by his attentiveness and generosity.

Finally, appreciation is extended to Colin A. McLaren, former head of Special Collections at the Aberdeen University Library, who first guided my examination of manuscripts in Aberdeen, and to the University of Aberdeen for permission to print the Fordyce manuscript in this volume.

the

ELEMENTS

of

Moral Philosophy

IN THREE BOOKS

• 1. Of Man, and his Connexions. Of Duty or Moral Obligation—Various Hypotheses—Final Causes of our Moral Faculties of Perception and Affection.
• 2. The principal Distinction of Duty or Virtue. Man’s Duties to Himself—To Society—To God.
• 3. Of Practical Ethics, or the Culture of the Mind. Motives to Virtue from Personal Happiness—From the Being and Providence of God—From the Immortality of the Soul.
• The Result, or Conclusion.

By the late Rev. Mr. D A V I D F O R D Y C E

Professor of Moral Philosophy, and Author of the

Art of Preaching, inscribed to his Grace

the Archbishop of  Canterbury

L O N D O N:

Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pallmall

MDCCLIV