An Inquiry Into The Nature And Functions Of The Moral Sense

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Excerpt from An Inquiry Into the Nature and Functions of the Moral Sense: Being an Address Delivered to the Senior Class of Haverford School, on the Twelfth of Ninth Month, 1837You are familiar with the mode m which the history of the origin and progress of our knowledge of the external world 18 illustrated, by the supposed example of a human being endow ed with but a single sense. We will suppose this sense to be the blended one, of touch and the muscular power; it being to this that we owe our notions of what are called the primary qualities of matter. As the mind is awakened to thought by impressions upon the bodily organs, the first act of conscious ness of this being, would probably be an uneasy sensation in some of his limbs, and an instinctive motion to relieve that un easmess. He would thus gain the knowledge of his power over his limbs, and the pleasure of the sensation caused by their mo tion, would prompt him to repeat it in every variety of manner. Each change. Of position in a limb, in the fingers and thumb, for example, being accompanied by a change of sensation, would in fact give rise to a continuous series of sensations; but one of which can be present, while the preceding ones are oh jects of memory, and are remembered as following in a certain order. This succession of feelings constitutes our notion of time. There is, moreover, a distinct consciousness of the voli tion to move the limb, and of the consequent motion as the effect of that volition. This consciousness of power, as the cause of certain effects, is a subject of individual experience one of those simple and universally understood ideas, which any attempt at definition does but perplex and confuse.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

00 Is it rational to strive for the unattainable? In this short and provocative study, Nicholas Rescher vigorously defends both the rationality and practicality of seriously pursuing impossible dreams. Is it rational to strive for the unattainable? In this short and provocative study, Nicholas Rescher vigorously defends both the rationality and practicality of seriously pursuing impossible dreams.

Although the works of Francis Hutcheson are unfamiliar to most students of philosophy, it cannot be said that he has been entirely ignored. To be sure, most of the recent writers who deal with Hutcheson's philosophy do so in the course of writing about Hutcheson's famous contemporary, David Hume. This is true, for example, of Norman Kemp Smith, whose book entitled The Philosophy of David Hume 1 includes much detailed information concerning Hume's indebtedness to Hutcheson. But others have written about Hutcheson on his own account. William R. Scott's Francis Hutcheson,2 although mainly biographical and historical, is well worth reading. In his article "Some Reflections on Moral-Sense Theories in Ethics," 3 C. D. Broad presents a sustained analysis of the sort of theory held by Hutcheson. D. Daiches Raphael's The Moral Sense 4 is competent, interesting, and especially valuable in its treatment of epistemological issues surrounding the moral sense theory. William K. Frankena's article entitled "Hutcheson's Moral Sense Theory" Ji is search ing and profound. And, most recent of all, a book by William T. Black stone has appeared entitled Francis Hutcheson and Contemporary Ethi cal Theory. 6 One of the difficulties encountered in presenting a study of Hutcheson is that all of his books are extremely rare. Fortunately, L. A. Selby-Bigge'l) 1 Nonnan Kemp Smith, The Philosophy of David Hume (London: Macmillan and Co. , Limited, 1949). Ii William Robert Scott, Francis Hutcheson (Cambridge, Eng. : Cambridge Uni venity Press, 1900).

Political Vanity aims to illuminate the central debates over the historical, moral, and political legitimacy of market capitalism as though still profoundly theological in character. This theological sensitivity is achieved by keeping conversation with central theorists of the Scottish Enlightenment, in particular the philosopher and sociologist Adam Ferguson. Ferguson was a contemporary of Hume and Smith, and actively questioned many of the pillars of early capitalism on theological grounds.