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16 Sept. 1814
Logic or Ethics Ch. Causes of Immorality
9
§.3. Religion misapplied
But if, for to the purpose here in question, viz. that of
ascertaining what manner of conduct is most conducive
to the happiness of the present life, religion, i.e. the rules of
conduct as laid down in the sacred volumes, can not are is in
be their its very nature incapable of being applied with propriety and advantage, what other
application, it may be asked, are they incapable of
What other application
religion may be susceptible
of belongs not
to the present purpose
Answer. To find provide an answer to this question
belongs not to the present purpose. Ethics not Religion
is the subject of the present work. The field of Ethics, not
the field of religion is the field here undertaken to be
surveyed.
To any such question an answer if given in this
work, would with reference to the proper object said purpose design and of this work be irrelevant.
Irrelevancy apart, even with and even reference had to
the satisfaction of enquirers the enquirer it would be superfluous, at least to a large
proportion of the aggregate
mass of those
who call themselves
Christians
and as such therefore needless.
Not the happiness of the present but that of a future life is the
happiness which the religion of Jesus has for its object.
Compared with the happiness of attainable in a future
which by means of the religion is attainable in a future
life, the utmost conceivable happiness obtainable capable of being enjoyed in the
present life is nothing worth. — the number of books multitude of the accessible discourses
in which this position has been ted upon,
urged, repeated and enforced, who shall take upon him
to enumerate? He who On the head here in question
whoso for requires satisfaction, let him look to any of those
books.
Identifier: | JB/014/134/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 14.
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1814-09-16 |
not numbered |
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014 |
deontology |
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134 |
logic or ethics |
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001 |
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text sheet |
1 |
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recto |
c1 / e9 |
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jeremy bentham |
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4897 |
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