This book explains how Cervantes took advantage of neo-stoicism and skepticism to remove the authority of the Romances of Chivalry, which was a popular genre during his time. It also explains why his strategy, which would have been instantly recognizable during the period, is no longer effective: our current moral systems are significantly different from the moral systems that were influential during Cervantes’ time, and consequently, what used to be self-evident is no longer the case. Therefore, this book may be useful to the literary critic interested in the philosophical foundations of Don Quijote, to the moral philosopher interested in the differences between pre-enlightenment virtue-ethics and current moral systems, and also in the field of the history of ideas. Don Quijote offers a unique opportunity to observe changes in moral thinking throughout time because it is a universal book, discussed extensively throughout out the centuries, and therefore the on-going discussion offers strong evidence to discover how morality has changed, and continues to change, through time.

"By encouraging readers to see the work through the lens of Cervantes’s contemporaries, Daniel Lorca adds an important wrinkle to scholarship about Quixote. Graduate students and researchers wishing to wrestle with the thorny issues posed by the novel will find the work of particular interest. The book is remarkably succinct, which is an advantage.... By encouraging us to read Don Quixote according to the mental framework of Cervantes’s contemporaries, Lorca adds another layer to our understanding of the ingenious gentleman from La Mancha." - Renaissance Quarterly