First published in 1918 and originally delivered as the Gifford Lectures in the University of Aberdeen in 1914 and 1915, this book is concerned with the relation between the true foundation of ethics and the true knowledge of God. Sorley explores the limits of morality and the problem of the divergence between the order of existence and the moral order, as well as the question of freedom and the very idea of God. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in ethics or in the theistic grounding of morality.
Originally published during the early part of the twentieth century, the Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature were designed to provide concise introductions to a broad range of topics. They were written by experts for the general reader and combined a comprehensive approach to knowledge with an emphasis on accessibility. The Moral Life by W. R. Sorley was first published in 1911 and reissued as this third edition in 1920. The volume presents an account of the nature of goodness in humanity, taking the perspective that morality is a spirit manifested in life rather than a body of rules.