Treatise Mapping
Map · Book 3: Of Morals · Part 3: Of the other virtues and vices · T 3.3.1 Of the origin of the natural virtues and vices

T 3.3.1.9

SBN 577 · cited directly by 0 papers, reached by 3 more through page or section ranges

The same principle produces, in many instances, our sentiments of morals, as well as those of beauty. No virtue is more esteem'd than justice, and no vice more detested than injustice; nor are there any qualities, which go farther to the fixing the character, either as amiable or odious. Now justice is a moral virtue, merely because it has that tendency to the good of mankind; and, indeed, is nothing but an artificial invention to that purpose. The same may be said of allegiance, of the laws of nations, of modesty, and of good-manners. All these are mere human contrivances for the interest of society. The inventors of them had chiefly in view their own interest. But we carry our approbation of them into the most distant countreys and ages, and much beyond our own interest. And since there is a very strong sentiment of morals, which in all nations, and all ages, hashas always attended them, we must allow, that the reflecting on the tendency of characters and mental qualities, is sufficient to give us the sentiments of approbation and blame. Now as the means to an end can only be agreeable, where the end is agreeable; and as the good of society, where our own interest is not concern'd, or that of our friends, pleases only by sympathy: It follows, that sympathy is the source of the esteem, which we pay to all the artificial virtues.

Who cites it

0 of 3 papers cite this paragraph directly; the rest reach it through a page or section range. Snippets are the words around each citation.

PaperCited asContext
Ainslie 1995(T 577)
T 3.3.1 (4 paragraphs)
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…ympathetically sharing the pleasure of their beneficiaries, namely the members of society (T 577). Now, however, we m…
Spector 19983.3.1
T 3.3.1 (32 paragraphs)
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…-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3.3.1 The Fiction of Self…
3.3.1
T 3.3.1 (32 paragraphs)
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…vol. i, and it remained a standard thought experiment through the eighteenth century. See 3.3.1, for more on the Sh…
3.3.1
T 3.3.1 (32 paragraphs)
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…about rights, justice and even personal identity, as we see with both Locke and Hume. See 3.3.1 note, for more on p…
3.3.1
T 3.3.1 (32 paragraphs)
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…ror made in the supposition of bodily continuity. ## 3.3 The Epistemological Problem ## 3.3.1 The Fiction of Self…
3.3.1
T 3.3.1 (32 paragraphs)
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…. 252. !8l am grateful to Candace Vogler for prompting me to clarify the difference. See 3.3.1 for a discussion of…
Ainslie 2003T 3.3.1
T 3.3.1 (32 paragraphs)
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…es - qualities useful or agreeable to the trait's possessor or to those who surround her (T 3.3.1) - offer little hel…