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6
the Inquiry ignorant & no comfort to the perplexed inquirer
From a mind so acute, — & with no interests
opposed to the interests of truth, something better might have been
expected. If in the field of law, the whole herd of ordinary
writers are rather engaged in ascertaining what was, — or is
instead of what ought to be, — their pursuit is not to be
wondered at — The practice & the not the philosophy of Law is
to them the source of gain — but it is sorely to be lamented
that David Hume should have so missed his mark as not
to have seen that pains & pleasures were susceptible of different
estimates — that they represented different values — that good &
evil were undefined & really unintelligible phrases until they
could be divided into their component parts — that happiness
itself was but a chimera until the elements of which it is composed made up could be made rendered
accessible to investigation. Hume has left the great moral
questions in the regions of speculation — no part of them
has he made applicable to useful purpose by intelligible
& distinguishing marks. He has left his theory — a mist in
the air — a cloud floating at different levels, — but never
in the form of dew or rain descending on the earth : — it
tantalizes the weary traveller without contributing any
thing towards his relief
Identifier: | JB/014/417/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 14.
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deontology |
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417 |
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001 |
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linking material |
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recto |
f6 |
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sir john bowring |
[[watermarks::[partial hall]]] |
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5180 |
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