An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections

by Francis Hutcheson

Hardcover, 2003

Collection

Publication

Liberty Fund, Inc. (2003), 256 pages

Description

A work dealing with the bases of morality and virtue, both public and private. Hutcheson argues that the natural inclination of the human being is to be virtuous, since the pleasures of being virtuous are the greatest we can experience. Individual human beings have a common inbuilt morality because of the human constitution. In addition to the five senses, he believed there was a moral sense, both equal and complementary to these five. The picture he paints is of a human mentality positively geared to harmonious society, which stumbles and fails only when selfish interest gets in the way. Selfish interest though, was for him only a secondary phenomenon, a failure of the system, which can be corrected if only people could be brought to realize their own nature and the nature of their senses.… (more)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1728

Physical description

256 p.; 6.2 inches

ISBN

0865973865 / 9780865973862
Page: 0.0934 seconds