The Elements of Moral Philosophy, with a Brief Account of the Nature, Progress, and Origin of Philosophy

David Fordyce (1711-1751) was one of the central figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. Fordyce was a teacher, and his lectures on A Brief Account of the Nature, Progress, and Origin of Philosophy are published here for the first time.

Though little known today, David Fordyce was an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment and closely associated with liberal Dissenters in England. His "Elements of Moral Philosophy" was a notable contribution to the curriculum in moral philosophy and a widely circulated text in moral philosophy in the second half of the eighteenth century. It was first published as part of a comprehensive textbook system in 1748 and as a separate book in 1754. It is the latter that is now being reissued. The significance of "The Elements" is evidenced by the fact that it was included practically verbatim in the first edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (1771). "A Brief Account," Fordyce's opening lectures to his Marischal class of 1743/44, has never before been published. David Fordyce (1711-1751) taught at Marischal College, Aberdeen. Thomas D. Kennedy is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Valparaiso University. Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual History and Director of the Centre for Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.