Page 8 - GALIET THE HEROIC SPECTACLE OF MORALS: Hume IV

“It seems so natural a thought to ascribe to their utility the praise, which we bestow on the social virtues that one would expect to meet with this principle everywhere in moral writers, as the chief foundation of their reasoning and enquiry”1
Introduction. Such are the latent words by which Hume, at the beginning section five of the Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, introduces utility as the chief foundation of morality and its very distinctions. Fundamental to Hume is the investigation of the origins of ideas, including those of morality. He appeals, in first instance, to the meticulous observation of quotidian life, pointing out how notable it is that the greatest eulogy that can be said of a human being or an inanimate thing as well as the best pretext that can be given when faced with a thing’s deformity or disproportion, is to show its utility for society and humanity. Though this would suffice to recognize descriptively, without astonishment, that “a man whose habits and conduct are hurtful to society...be an object of disapprobation communicating to every spectator the strongest sentiment of disgust and hatred,”2 it has nonetheless caused philosophers to deny the effects of utility or its contrary, thus resorting to other principles to explain morality’s origins. Empirical confirmation suggests that it ought not reject this principle. For Hume, it is neither impossible to resolve nor explain precisely the origins of good and evil by means of more general principles. In this study, I pretend to demonstrate how Hume, removing himself from metaphysically grounded morals, first generates his theory to properly apprehend, in the second part of this work (pages 6 onward) how he understands the relation between self-love and virtue from the most accepted principles of human nature.
ACT I. Morality: A Tango
M e t h o d. Hume observes. He dissects and analyzes the complexities of the mind to determine what constitutes virtue or personal merit. By comparing those particular attributes that bestow upon a individual esteem or hatred, praise or blame, he aspires to deduce universal laws from particulars.3 Then I ask, is it possible to deduce general
1 Darwall, Stephen. Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. Section V. 257.
2 Ibid. Section V. Part I, 67.
3 Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning the Principle of Morals. Tom L. Beauchamp edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 10.
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