Philosophical Works, v. 2 (of 4): Including All the Essays, and Exhibiting the More Important Alterations and Corrections in the Successive Editions Published by the AuthorHume, David
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Philosophical Works, v. 2 (of 4): Including All the Essays, and Exhibiting the More Important Alterations and Corrections in the Successive Editions Published by the Author
Hume, David
Knowledge, Theory of; Philosophy, English -- 18th century
'Tis remarkable, that nothing touches a man of humanity more than
any instance of extraordinary delicacy in love or friendship, where
a person is attentive to the smallest concerns of his friend, and is
willing to sacrifice to them the most considerable interest of his own.
Such delicacies have little influence on society; because they make
us regard the greatest trifles: but they are the more engaging the
more minute the concern is, and are a proof of the highest merit in
any one who is capable of them. The passions are so contagious, that
they pass with the greatest facility from one person to another, and
produce correspondent movements in all human breasts. Where friendship
appears in very signal instances, my heart catches the same passion,
and is warmed by those warm sentiments that display themselves before
me. Such agreeable, movements must give me an affection to every one
that excites them. This is the case with every thing that is agreeable
in any person. The transition from pleasure to love is easy: but the
transition must here be still more easy; since the agreeable sentiment
which is excited by sympathy, is love itself; and there is nothing
required but to change the object.
Hence the peculiar merit of benevolence in all its shapes and
appearances. Hence even its weaknesses are virtuous and amiable; and a
person, whose grief upon the loss of a friend were excessive, would be
esteemed upon that account. His tenderness bestows a merit, as it does
a pleasure, on his melancholy.
We are not, however, to imagine that all the angry passions are
vicious, though they are disagreeable. There is a certain indulgence
due to human nature in this respect. Anger and hatred are passions
inherent in our very frame and constitution. The want of them, on some
occasions, may even be a proof of weakness and imbecility. And where
they appear only in a low degree, we not only excuse them because they
are natural, but even bestow our applauses on them, because they are
inferior to what appears in the greatest part of mankind.
Where these angry passions rise up to cruelty, they form the most
detested of all vices. All the pity and concern which we have for the
miserable sufferers by this vice, turns against the person guilty of
it, and produces a stronger hatred than we are sensible of on any other
occasion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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