Page 20 - GALIET THE HEROIC SPECTACLE OF MORALS: Hume IV

Galiet & Galiet
is’: that which exists by itself, absolute and intelligible removed from mutability).63 this what Hume says, albeit in different words?
“One man’s ambition is not another’s ambition, nor will the same event or object satisfy both; but the humanity of one man is the humanity of every one, and the same object touches this passion in all human creatures.64
Or to be more precise:
The particular sentiments of self-love are controlled and limited by universal principles.65
The words ‘controlled and limited by’ seem to be equivalent to ‘participation.’
Isn’t
Ì Plato and the realm of ‘is.’ If Plato claims that ‘is’ is fallacious in Heraclitus’ ever- flowing rivers, how can we mind leap from ‘is’ to ‘ought’? Why would Hume ponder on is-ought transitions? Why would he ground his moral-origin theory empirically rather than metaphysically? ß Again, exit to the Academy. Or to Socrates’ η αγορα.
Ì Hume and the Golden Rule. Is Hume’s theory a spark of that which he paradoxically negates? Does his philosophy insinuate the Golden Rule (also the summation of Hobbes’ 19 laws)?66 When Jesus, in Matthew 7:12, exhorts, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,”67 doesn’t he suggest the very Humean pleasure-utility reciprocity between self and others? Since suffering is shunned, we would abstain from causing misery to another and opt for the gratifying and beneficial. If everyone acts in this way, everyone benefits. Hume and Christianity’s maxim mirror each other.
Ì Immortality and Ethics. Why do we feel in some instances a natural compassion, sympathy and altruism? Is it because of social utility? Or guilt? Or is it something else? Some tend to feel pity for those less fortunate, others to oppress them. Buy why? Motivated by pity, the altruist benefits if only if others benefit. This is a genuine mirror
63 Plato. Complete Works. Timaeus. Ed. John M. Cooper. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing, 1997.
64 Virtue Ethics. Section 222.97
65 Ibid. Section 223. 98
66 This maxim also appears in almost all the philosophies and religions of the world, including confucianism. 67 This maxim can also be interpreted egotistically: If I like solitude and do not trouble others, by law of reciprocity, I would expect them not to trouble me.
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