David Hume Quotes About Ethics

Quotes about: Ethics

• The rules of morality are not the conclusion of our reason.

  David Hume

  Pregnancy, Ethics, Morality

• Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

  David Hume

  Philosophy, Passion, Office

  A Treatise upon Human Nature bk. 2 (1739)

• How could politics be a science, if laws and forms of government had not a uniform influence upon society? Where would be the foundation of morals, if particular characters had no certain or determinate power to produce particular sentiments, and if these sentiments had no constant operation on actions?

  David Hume

  Character, Law, Government

  David Hume (1875). “Essays Moral, Political, and Literary”, p.73

• It seems then, say I, that you leave politics entirely out of the question, and never suppose, that a wise magistrate can justly be jealous of certain tenets of philosophy, such as those of Epicurus, which, denying a divine existence, and consequently a providence and a future state, seem to loosen, in a great measure, the ties of morality, and may be supposed, for that reason, pernicious to the peace of civil society.

  David Hume

  Wise, Philosophy, Jealous

  David Hume, Tom L. Beauchamp (2000). “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: A Critical Edition”, p.101, Oxford University Press

• These arguments on each side (and many more might be produced) are so plausible, that I am apt to suspect, they may, the one as well as the other, be solid and satisfactory, and that reason and sentiment concur in almost all moral determinations and conclusions.

  David Hume

  Determination, May, Might

  David Hume, J. B. Schneewind (1983). “An Enquiry Concerning The Principles of Morals”, p.15, Hackett Publishing

• We may conclude, therefore, that, in order to establish laws for the regulation of property, we must be acquainted with the nature and situation of man; must reject appearances, which may be false, though specious; and must search for those rules, which are, on the whole, most useful and beneficial.

  David Hume

  Men, Order, Law

  David Hume, J. B. Schneewind (1983). “An Enquiry Concerning The Principles of Morals”, p.28, Hackett Publishing

• .. that which renders morality an active principle and constitutes virtue our happiness, and vice our misery: it is probable, I say, that this final sentence depends on some internal sense or feeling, which nature has made universal in the whole species.

  David Hume

  Feelings, Vices, Principles

  David Hume, Tom L. Beauchamp (2006). “An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals: A Critical Edition”, p.5, Oxford University Press

• But in many orders of beauty, particularly those of the finer arts, it is requisite to employ much reasoning, in order to feel the proper sentiment; and a false relish may frequently be corrected by argument and reflection. There are just grounds to conclude, that moral beauty partakes of this latter species, and demands the assistance of our intellectual faculties, in order to give it a suitable influence on the human mind.

  David Hume

  Art, Reflection, Order

  David Hume, J. B. Schneewind (1983). “An Enquiry Concerning The Principles of Morals”, p.15, Hackett Publishing

• From the apparent usefulness of the social virtues, it has readily been inferred by sceptics, both ancient and modern, that all moral distinctions arise from education, and were, at first, invented, and afterwards encouraged ... in order to render men tractable, and subdue their natural ferocity and selfishness, which incapacitated them for society.

  David Hume

  Men, Order, Selfishness

  David Hume (2006). “An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals”, p.48, Cosimo, Inc.

• We may observe that, in displaying the praises of any humane, beneficent man, there is one circumstance which never fails to be amply insisted on, namely, the happiness and satisfaction, derived to society from his intercourse and good offices.

  David Hume

  Men, Office, May

  David Hume (1826). “And the human understanding. An inquiry concerning the principles of morals. Appendix. The natural history of religion”, p.248

• .. the voice of nature and experience seems plainly to oppose the selfish theory.

  David Hume

  Selfish, Voice, Ethics

  David Hume (1768). “An enquiry concerning human understanding. A dissertation on the passions. An enquiry concerning the principles of morals. The natural history of religion”, p.296

• In all determinations of morality, this circumstance of public utility is ever principally in view; and wherever disputes arise, either in philosophy or common life, concerning the bounds of duty, the questions cannot, by any means, be decided with greater certainty, than by ascertaining, on any side, the true interests of mankind. If any false opinion, embraced from appearances, has been found to prevail; as soon as farther experience and sounder reasoning have given us juster notions of human affairs, we retract our first sentiment, and adjust anew the boundaries of moral good and evil.

  David Hume

  Determination, Philosophy, Mean

  David Hume (2010). “Moral and Political Philosophy”, p.221, Simon and Schuster

• It is still open for me, as well as you, to regulate my behavior, by my experience of past events.

  David Hume

  Past, Events, Ethics

  DAVID HUME (1854). “THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS OF DAVID HUME.”, p.160

• He sees such a desperate rapaciousness prevail; such a disregard to equity, such contempt of order, such stupid blindness to future consequences, as must immediately have the most tragical conclusion, and most terminate in destruction to the greater number, and in a total dissolution of society to the rest.

  David Hume

  Stupid, Order, Numbers

  David Hume (2013). “An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals”, p.16, Simon and Schuster

• There has been a controversy started of late, much better worth examination, concerning the general foundation of Morals; whether they be derived from Reason, or from Sentiment; whether we attain the knowledge of them by a chain of argument and induction, or by an immediate feeling and finer internal sense; whether, like all sound judgement of truth and falsehood, they should be the same to every rational intelligent being; or whether, like the perception of beauty and deformity, they be founded entirely on the particular fabric and constitution of the human species.

  David Hume

  Intelligent, Perception Of Beauty, Judgement

• .. that a rule, which, in speculation, may seem the most advantageous to society, may yet be found, in practice, totally pernicious and destructive.

  David Hume

  Practice, May, Ethics

  David Hume, Tom L. Beauchamp (2006). “An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals: A Critical Edition”, p.20, Oxford University Press

• Truth is disputable; not taste: what exists in the nature of things is the standard of our judgement; what each man feels within himself is the standard of sentiment. Propositions in geometry may be proved, systems in physics may be controverted; but the harmony of verse, the tenderness of passion, the brilliancy of wit, must give immediate pleasure. No man reasons concerning another's beauty; but frequently concerning the justice or injustice of his actions.

  David Hume

  Passion, Men, Giving

  David Hume (2016). “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Revision of Great Book”, p.131, VM eBooks

• But, historians, and even common sense, may inform us, that, however specious these ideas of perfect equality may seem, they are really, at bottom, impracticable; and were they not so, would be extremely pernicious to human society. Render possessions ever so equal, men's different degrees of art, care, and industry will immediately break that equality. Or if you check these virtues, you reduce society to the most extreme indigence; and instead of preventing want and beggary in a few, render it unavoidable to the whole community.

  David Hume

  Art, Men, Ideas

  David Hume (2013). “Essays and Treatises on Philosophical Subjects”, p.290, Broadview Press

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