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.To do so from any othermotive is itself a violation of the laws of justice, which force ought to be employedeither to restrain or to punish.The wisdom of every state or commonwealth en-deavours, as well as it can, to employ the force of the society to restrain thosewho are subject to its authority, from hurting or disturbing the happiness of oneanother.The rules which it establishes for this purpose, constitute the civil andcriminal law of each particular state or country.The principles upon which thoserules either are, or ought to be founded, are the subject of a particular science, ofall sciences by far the most important, but hitherto, perhaps, the least cultivated,that of natural jurisprudence; concerning which it belongs not to our present sub-ject to enter into any detail.A sacred and religious regard not to hurt or disturb inany respect the happiness of our neighbour, even in those cases where no law canproperly protect him, constitutes the character of the perfectly innocent and justman; a character which, when carried to a certain delicacy of attention, is alwayshighly respectable and even venerable for its own sake, and can scarce ever fail tobe accompanied with many other virtues, with great feeling for other people, withgreat humanity and great benevolence.It is a character sufficiently understood,and requires no further explanation.In the present section I shall only endeav-our to explain the foundation of that order which nature seems to have traced outfor the distribution of our good offices, or for the direction and employment ofour very limited powers of beneficence: first, towards individuals; and secondly,towards societies.The same unerring wisdom, it will be found, which regulates every other part3of her conduct, directs, in this respect too, the order of her recommendations;which are always stronger or weaker in proportion as our beneficence is more orless necessary, or can be more or less useful.VI.ii 197 The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam SmithChap.IOf the Order in which Individuals are recommended by Nature to our care andattentionEvery man, as the Stoics used to say, is first and principally recommended to his1own care; and every man is certainly, in every respect, fitter and abler to take careof himself than of any other person.Every man feels his own pleasures and hisown pains more sensibly than those of other people.The former are the originalsensations; the latter the reflected or sympathetic images of those sensations.Theformer may be said to be the substance; the latter the shadow.After himself, the members of his own family, those who usually live in the2same house with him, his parents, his children, his brothers and sisters, are nat-urally the objects of his warmest affections.They are naturally and usually thepersons upon whose happiness or misery his conduct must have the greatest in-fluence.He is more habituated to sympathize with them.He knows better howevery thing is likely to affect them, and his sympathy with them is more preciseand determinate, than it can be with the greater part of other people.It approachesnearer, in short, to what he feels for himself.This sympathy too, and the affections which are founded on it, are by nature3more strongly directed towards his children than towards his parents, and his ten-derness for the former seems generally a more active principle, than his reverenceand gratitude towards the latter.In the natural state of things, it has already beenobserved, the existence of the child, for some time after it comes into the world,depends altogether upon the care of the parent; that of the parent does not nat-urally depend upon the care of the child.In the eye of nature, it would seem, achild is a more important object than an old man; and excites a much more lively,as well as a much more universal sympathy.It ought to do so.Every thing maybe expected, or at least hoped, from the child.In ordinary cases, very little canbe either expected or hoped from the old man.The weakness of childhood inter-ests the affections of the most brutal and hard-hearted.It is only to the virtuousand humane, that the infirmities of old age are not the objects of contempt andaversion [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.To do so from any othermotive is itself a violation of the laws of justice, which force ought to be employedeither to restrain or to punish.The wisdom of every state or commonwealth en-deavours, as well as it can, to employ the force of the society to restrain thosewho are subject to its authority, from hurting or disturbing the happiness of oneanother.The rules which it establishes for this purpose, constitute the civil andcriminal law of each particular state or country.The principles upon which thoserules either are, or ought to be founded, are the subject of a particular science, ofall sciences by far the most important, but hitherto, perhaps, the least cultivated,that of natural jurisprudence; concerning which it belongs not to our present sub-ject to enter into any detail.A sacred and religious regard not to hurt or disturb inany respect the happiness of our neighbour, even in those cases where no law canproperly protect him, constitutes the character of the perfectly innocent and justman; a character which, when carried to a certain delicacy of attention, is alwayshighly respectable and even venerable for its own sake, and can scarce ever fail tobe accompanied with many other virtues, with great feeling for other people, withgreat humanity and great benevolence.It is a character sufficiently understood,and requires no further explanation.In the present section I shall only endeav-our to explain the foundation of that order which nature seems to have traced outfor the distribution of our good offices, or for the direction and employment ofour very limited powers of beneficence: first, towards individuals; and secondly,towards societies.The same unerring wisdom, it will be found, which regulates every other part3of her conduct, directs, in this respect too, the order of her recommendations;which are always stronger or weaker in proportion as our beneficence is more orless necessary, or can be more or less useful.VI.ii 197 The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam SmithChap.IOf the Order in which Individuals are recommended by Nature to our care andattentionEvery man, as the Stoics used to say, is first and principally recommended to his1own care; and every man is certainly, in every respect, fitter and abler to take careof himself than of any other person.Every man feels his own pleasures and hisown pains more sensibly than those of other people.The former are the originalsensations; the latter the reflected or sympathetic images of those sensations.Theformer may be said to be the substance; the latter the shadow.After himself, the members of his own family, those who usually live in the2same house with him, his parents, his children, his brothers and sisters, are nat-urally the objects of his warmest affections.They are naturally and usually thepersons upon whose happiness or misery his conduct must have the greatest in-fluence.He is more habituated to sympathize with them.He knows better howevery thing is likely to affect them, and his sympathy with them is more preciseand determinate, than it can be with the greater part of other people.It approachesnearer, in short, to what he feels for himself.This sympathy too, and the affections which are founded on it, are by nature3more strongly directed towards his children than towards his parents, and his ten-derness for the former seems generally a more active principle, than his reverenceand gratitude towards the latter.In the natural state of things, it has already beenobserved, the existence of the child, for some time after it comes into the world,depends altogether upon the care of the parent; that of the parent does not nat-urally depend upon the care of the child.In the eye of nature, it would seem, achild is a more important object than an old man; and excites a much more lively,as well as a much more universal sympathy.It ought to do so.Every thing maybe expected, or at least hoped, from the child.In ordinary cases, very little canbe either expected or hoped from the old man.The weakness of childhood inter-ests the affections of the most brutal and hard-hearted.It is only to the virtuousand humane, that the infirmities of old age are not the objects of contempt andaversion [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]