The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 05 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
(_g_) “Thirdly, whereas he saith, that ‘some sudden acts, proceeding
from violent passions which surprise a man, are justly punished’; I
grant they are so sometimes, but not for his reason, &c.” My reason was,
“because he had time to deliberate from the instant that he knew the
law, to the instant of his action, and ought to have deliberated”, that
therefore he may be justly punished. The Bishop grants they are justly
punished, and his reason is, “because they were virtually deliberated
of”, or, “because it is our fault they were not actually deliberated
of”. How a man does deliberate, and yet not actually deliberate, I
understand not. If virtual deliberation be not actual deliberation, it
is no deliberation. But he calleth virtual deliberation, that which
ought to have been, and was not; and says the same that he condemns in
me. And his other reason, namely, because it is our fault that we
deliberated not, is the same that I said, that we ought to have
deliberated, and did not. So that his reprehension here, is a
reprehension of himself, proceeding from that the custom of
School-language hath made him forget the language of his country. And to
that which he adds, “that a necessary act is never a fault, nor justly
punishable, when the necessity is inevitably imposed upon us by
extrinsical causes”, I have sufficiently answered before in diverse
places; shewing that a fault may be necessary from extrinsical causes,
and yet voluntary; and that voluntary faults are justly punishable.