The Theory of Moral Sentiments: Or, An Essay Towards an Analysis of the Principes by which Men Naturally Judge Concerning the Conduct and Character, First of Their Neighbours, and Afterwards of Themselves. To which is Added, a Dissertation on the Origin of LanguagesA. Strahan, T. Cadell, 1792 - Ethics |
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Common terms and phrases
abſtract according action affections againſt agreeable almoſt altogether approbation beauty becauſe benevolence beſt cafes character Cicero circumftances conduct confequence confider confiderable confifts conftitutes cuſtom deferve defire denote difagreeable diſtinguiſh eaſe endeavour Epicurus eſtabliſhed eſteem expreffed expreffion faid fame manner faſhion favage fecurity feel feems feldom fenfe fenfible fenſe fentiments fhould firft firſt fituation fociety fome fome degree fomething fometimes fpecies fpectator ftate ftill fubject fuch fuffer fufficient fuperiority fuppofed fupport fyftem fympathy greateſt happineſs higheſt himſelf human intereft itſelf juftice language leaft leaſt lefs meaſure mind moft moral moſt muft muſt nature neceffarily neceffary notwithſtanding nouns fubftantive obferved objects occafions ourſelves paffions particular perfon philofophers Plato pleaſure prefent prepofitions principle proper propriety prudence puniſhment racter reaſon regard reſemblance reſpect rules ſeems ſenſe ſome ſpecies ſtate thefe themſelves theſe things thofe thoſe tion univerfal uſe verbs virtue virtuous whofe whoſe word
Popular passages
Page 393 - I shall in another discourse endeavour to give an account of the general principles of law and government and of the different revolutions they have undergone in the different ages and periods of society...
Page 106 - He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board.
Page 349 - The word conscience does not immediately denote any moral faculty by which we approve or disapprove. Conscience supposes, indeed, the existence of some such faculty...
Page 324 - Sympathy, however, cannot, in any sense, be regarded as a selfish principle. When I sympathize with your sorrow or your indignation, it may be pretended, indeed, that my emotion is founded in self-love, because it arises from bringing your case home to myself, from putting myself in your situation, and thence conceiving what I should feel in the like circumstances.
Page 105 - ... the inconveniences which may flow from the want of those regulations which the people are averse to submit to. When he cannot establish the right, he will not disdain to ameliorate the wrong; but, like Solon, when he cannot establish the best system of laws, he will endeavour to establish the best that the people can bear.
Page 331 - ... more vague and indeterminate ideas of what is prudent, of what is decent, of what is generous or noble, which we carry...
Page 400 - Could we suppose any person living on the banks of the Thames so ignorant as not to know the general word river but to be acquainted only with the particular word Thames, if he was brought to any other river, would he not readily call it a Thames?
Page 111 - The wise and virtuous man is at all times willing that his own private interest should be sacrificed to the public interest of his own particular order or society.
Page 332 - But though reason is undoubtedly the source of the general rules of morality. and of all the moral judgments which we form by means of them...
Page 399 - The new objects had none of them any name of its own, but each of them exactly resembled another object, which had such an appellation. It was impossible that those savages could behold the new objects, without recollecting the old ones ; and the name of the old ones, to which the new bore so close a resemblance. When they had occasion, therefore, to mention, or to point out to each other, any of the new objects, they would naturally utter the name of the correspondent old one, of which the idea...