JB/014/282/001

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1827. March 7.

Deontology

2

Note.

Virtue in the common acceptation of the
word, is not only the name of a fictitious entity,
but that fictitious entity is a fictitious personage.
It is a member of a sort of fictitious family.
For those who speak of virtue in the singular,
speak also of the virtues in the plural: of an
indefinitely extensive family, of which the several
virtues are the members. In a word, the scene
presented to the imagination is that of a parent
with a family of children. The latin language being
the parent soil of this appellative, and the
gender of the appellative, the feminine, the image
presented is that of a mother, surrounded by
a family of daughters. Virtue in the abstract
sense and singular number, the mother: the
virtues in the plural number, her daughters
Many a person, by whom the unavoidable and almost
incurable imperfections of the instrument
called language has not been sufficiently considered,
will here be apt to be shocked by the proposition
that virtue is a fictitious entity. What
(will he say) deny the existence of virtue? Virtue
an empty name? No such thing as virtue? Oh
horrible! What an opinion must this man have
of human nature — what good, what useful information
can be expected from him? what of any
other sort, but the most pernicious conceivable?
But if virtue is a mere imaginary thing, so will be
it's correspondent and opposite vice. Thus will
virtue and vice be on a level. Both alike creatures
of the imagination, alike objects of indifference: peace,
good sir, no such horrible consequences will follow.

add the propensity to infer
existence from appellateness.

In the existence Of
virtuous acts, habits,
dispositions, propensities,
the existence, in
so far as such entities
are in any case susceptible
of existence,
is admitted, and for all
practical purposes, viz
for the purpose of discourse,
assumed.
Thus, whatsoever may
be the phraseology employed
by us respectively
nothing is there in it
that will of necessity
prevent our opinions
from being the
same.

Identifier: | JB/014/282/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 14.
Date_1	1827-03-07	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	014	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	282	Info in main headings field	deontology
Image	001	Titles	note
Category	copy/fair copy sheet	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	c2
Penner	john flowerdew colls	Watermarks	j whatman turkey mill 1826
Marginals		Paper Producer	jonathan blenman
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1826
Notes public		ID Number	5045
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