"The character of virtue, it is evident, must be ascribed indifferently to all our affections, when under proper government and direction. The great division of our affections is into the selfish and the benevolent. If the character of virtue, therefore, cannot be ascribed indifferently to all our effections...it must be confined either to those which aim directly at our private happiness, or to those which aim directly at others. If virtue, therefore, does not consist in propriety, it must consist either in prudence or in benevolence."
Benevolence: Acting in a way proceeding from "proper motives." (TMS II.ii.1.1)
- "Always free, it cannot be extorted by force"
- "The mere want of beneficence tends to do no real positive evil"
- "Want of gratitude"
Resentment: "the safeguard of justice and the security of innocence." (TMS II.ii.1.4)
- "Prompts us to beat off the mischief which is attempted to be done to us" (TMS II.ii.1.4)
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Propriety: "the suitableness of the affection from which we act, to the cause or object which excites it" (TMS VII.ii.1.48)
"None of those systems give...any precise or distinct measure by which this fitness or propriety of affection can be ascertained or judged of. That precise and distinct measure can be found nowhere but in the sympathetic feelings of the impartial and well-informed spectator." (TMS VII.ii.1)
Sympathetic Feelings of The Spectator: Sentiments from recognizing and imaginating judgment from a nonagent or perceived agent
- Passions of a person are in perfect concord with the sympathetic emotions of the spectator, appearing just and proper (TMS.I.i.3.1)
- Approval as sympathy, disapproval as its absence (TMS.I.i.3.1)
- "Every faculty in one man is the measure by which he judges of the like faculty in another. I judge of your sight by my sight, of your ear by my ear, of your reason by my reason, of your resentment by my resentment, of your love by my love. I neither have, nor can have, any other way of judging about them." (TMS.I.i.3.10)
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Law-giver (the state) must exercise propriety & benevolence when restraining injusticeProcedural fairness
- Other types of fairness? Proper government
- Justice practiced by the state and civil society
- What happens when a spectator has a disapproving view of the law-giver? What if they have agency?
Justice as a Virtue: "The violation of justice is injury: it does real and positive hurt to some particular persons" (TMS II.ii.1.5)
"The civil magistrate is entrusted with the power...of preserving the public peace by restraining injustice. Of all the duties of a law-giver... this... requires... propriety and judgment." (TMS II.ii.1.8)
"There is, no doubt, a propriety in the practice of justice. Mere justice is, upon most occassion, but a negative virtue, and only hinders us from hurting our neighbor. We may often fulfil all the rules of justice by sitting still and doing nothing." (TMS II.ii.1.9)
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Prudence: Self-regarding, an individual's health, fortune, and reputation—objects that give comfort and happiness
- Serious and earnest study of what he professes to understand (TMS VI.i.7)
- "Always sincere, he is not always frank and open" (TMS VI.i.8)
- Steady and faithful friendship (TMS VI.i.9)
"The care of the health, of the fortune, of the rank and reputation of the individual, the objects upon which his comfort and happiness in this life are supposed to principally depend" (TMS VI.i.5)
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