PHIL 1200 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Ethical Egoism
15 May 2017
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This, hume thinks, has been a powerful thought. But he disagrees that all moral affection or dislike arises from education and habit. concern for others. Rather, he thinks we have some natural tendencies toward virtue and (cid:498)the social virtues must, therefore, be allowed to have a natural beauty and amiableness. (cid:499) This is how we are also motivated, since these virtues (cid:498)must be some way agreeable to us, and take hold of some natural affection. (cid:499) Otherwise, we would violate them as soon as we had the chance. We praise people who lived a long time before us. We do not have any interest at stake, in this case, but we still find something admirable in their actions, besides any gain for us. Moreover, people seem to have a sense of public utility that goes beyond their private utility, and praise people for contributing to the public good, without enjoying any personal benefit.
