A Full Inquiry Into the Subject of Suicide To Which Are Added Two Treatises on Duelling and Gaming

The morality of suicide has remained a central question for philosophers and theologians from the Ancient Greeks to the modern day. Moore's Inquiry into the Subject of Suicide was written in opposition to the view of Hume and some pre-Christian classical thinkers that suicide could be an honourable act. Moore argues that suicide is wrong, that it opposes the divine plans of Providence, and can be excusable only in the case of incurable and painful disease. His inquiry gives a full and detailed account of the historic background to the suicide question, the different opinions on suicide throughout the world, and its relation to Christianity. He goes on to consider the 'ruinous' and 'unChristian' practices of Gaming and Duelling and their role as causes of suicide. Of particular importance is his extensive review of the literature on the subject.

This unique study remains one of the most complete surveys of the philosophical and religious thought on suicide up until the end of the eighteenth century.

Author:
Charles Moore (1743-1811), Rector of Cuxton, Vicar of Boughton Blean, Kent; Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Only other published work seems to be A Sermon...on Sunday Schools (1785).

-'still one of the fullest surveys of philosophical and religious thought up to that time' - Encyclopedia of Philosophy
-includes an excellent review of the literature on suicide pre-1790
-contains a detailed account of the history and evolution of gaming and duelling
-the only work of its kind