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Full Idea
Would any man, who is walking along, tread as willingly on another's gouty toes, whom he has no quarrel with, as on the hard flint and pavement?
Clarification
Gout is excrutiatingly painful and sensitive
Gist of Idea
No one would cause pain to a complete stranger who happened to be passing
Source
David Hume (Enquiry concerning Principles of Morals [1751], V.II.183)
Book Ref
Hume,David: 'Enquiries Conc. Human Understanding, Morals', ed/tr. Selby-Bigge/Nidditch [OUP 1975], p.226
A Reaction
He is right that we empathise with the pain of others, and this is presumably one of the bases of morality. Animals lack sympathy for other animals.
| 3923 | No one would cause pain to a complete stranger who happened to be passing [Hume] |
| 3924 | Nature makes private affections come first, because public concerns are spread too thinly [Hume] |
| 3770 | General happiness is only desirable because individuals desire their own happiness [Mill] |
| 2884 | The morality of slaves is the morality of utility [Nietzsche] |
| 4501 | Utilitarianism criticises the origins of morality, but still believes in it as much as Christians [Nietzsche] |
| 22404 | Any group interested in ethics must surely have a sentiment of generalised benevolence [Smart] |
| 4124 | Utilitarian benevolence involves no particular attachments, and is immune to the inverse square law [Williams,B] |
| 3262 | Utilitarianism is too demanding [Nagel] |