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6241
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Contempt of danger is just madness if it is not in some worthy cause [Hutcheson]
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Full Idea:
Mere courage, or contempt of danger, if we conceive it to have no regard to the defence of the innocent, or repairing of wrongs or self-interest, would only entitle its possessor to bedlam.
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From:
Francis Hutcheson (Treatise 2: Virtue or Moral Good [1725], §II.I)
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A reaction:
If many criminals would love to rob a bank, but only a few have the nerve to attempt it, we can hardly deny that the latter exhibit a sort of courage. The Greeks say that good sense must be involved, but few of them were so moral about courage.
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6257
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You can't form moral rules without an end, which needs feelings and a moral sense [Hutcheson]
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Full Idea:
What rule of actions can be formed, without relation to some end proposed? Or what end can be proposed, without presupposing instincts, desires, affections, or a moral sense, it will not be easy to explain.
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From:
Francis Hutcheson (Treatise 4: The Moral Sense [1728], §IV)
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A reaction:
We have no reason to think that 'instincts, desires and affections' will give us the remotest guidance on how to behave morally well (though we would expect them to aid our survival). How could a moral sense give a reason, without spotting a rule?
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6245
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That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest number [Hutcheson]
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Full Idea:
That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest number; and that worst, which, in like manner, occasions misery.
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From:
Francis Hutcheson (Treatise 2: Virtue or Moral Good [1725], §III.VIII)
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A reaction:
The first use of a phrase taken up by Bentham. This is not just an anticipation of utilitarianism, it is utilitarianism, with all its commitment to consequentialism (but see Idea 6246), and to the maximising of happiness. It is a brilliant idea.
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