The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 05 (of 11) — Thomas Hobbes — John Shaqi
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 05 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
moral praise is not, as he says, from the good use of liberty, but from
obedience to the laws; nor moral dispraise from the bad use of liberty,
but from disobedience to the laws. And for his consequence, “if all
things be necessary, then moral liberty is quite taken away, and with it
all true praise and dispraise”, there is neither truth in it, nor
argument offered for it; for there is nothing more necessary than the
consequence of _voluntary_ actions to the _will_. And whereas I had
said, that to say a thing is good, is to say it is as I or another would
wish, or as the state would have it, or according to the law of the
land, he answers, that “I mistake infinitely”. And his reason is,
because “we often wish what is profitable or delightful, without
regarding as we ought what is honest”. There is no man living that seeth
all the consequences of an action from the beginning to the end, whereby
to weigh the whole sum of the good with the whole sum of the evil
consequence. We choose no further than we can weigh. That is good to
every man, which is so far good as he can see. All the real good, which
we call honest and morally virtuous, is that which is not repugnant to
the law, civil or natural; for the law is all the right reason we have,
and, (though he, as often as it disagreeth with his own reason, deny
it), is the infallible rule of moral goodness. The reason whereof is
this, that because neither mine nor the Bishop’s reason is right reason
fit to be a rule of our moral actions, we have therefore set up over
ourselves a sovereign governor, and agreed that his laws shall be unto
us, whatsoever they be, in the place of right reason, to dictate to us
what is really good. In the same manner as men in playing turn up trump,
and as in playing their game their morality consisteth in not
renouncing, so in our civil conversation our morality is all contained
in not disobeying of the laws.
To my question, “whether nothing could please him, that proceeded from
necessity”, he answers: “yes; the fire pleaseth him when he is cold, and
he says it is good fire, but does not praise it morally”. He praiseth,
he says, first the Creator of the fire, and then him who provided it. He
does well; yet he praiseth the fire when he saith it is good, though not
morally. He does not say it is a just fire, or a wise, or a
well-mannered fire, obedient to the laws; but these attributes it seems
he gives to God, as if justice were not of his nature, but of his
manners. And in praising morally him that provided it, he seems to say,
he would not say the fire was good, if he were not morally good that did
provide it.
To that which I had answered concerning reward and punishment, he hath
replied, he says, sufficiently before, and that that which he
discourseth here, is not only to answer me, but also to satisfy himself,
and saith: