JB/015/175/001

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42

There are many pleasures& pains which though capable of acting & really acting in fact as
motives to conduct, have too only a remote a connection with it that good the subject to
be dealt with at any considerable length The pleasure of novelty, for example, is the
anticipation of an undefined enjoy or only partly defined enjoyment – it is
the acquisition of a new article of knowledge – it may even be a sort of
pleasurable disappointment – it sometimes takes the shape of a difficulty overcome –
the pleasure & the cause of the pleasure it is frequently very difficult to link together.

The pleasure of memory, is the pleasure of power – the power over things
which promise utility, thro' the medium of ideas. To recall what we desire
to recall is a sort of triumph both of the will & the intellect – for amidst
the strange workings of the human mind, we frequently seek to recollect what
we cannot – while we recollect what we would not – that which we most
desire to repossess glides away from our memory, while that which is most
disagreeable to us hangs about it with strong influence & power. The pleasures of conception
may or imagination depend for their connection with vice & virtue on their subject &
their source.

Of The susceptibility of any individual to
the influence of pain & pleasure in general, – or to the influence of
any particular pain or pleasure depends on bodily & intellectual
organization – on knowledge – habit – domestic & social condition –
sex, – age – climate – government – in a word on circumstances
so various & intricate that to develope the exact extent &
character of each is perhaps if not absolutely the most difficult, – at
least one of the most difficult tasks within the compass of moral
physiology.† † Introduction to Morals & Legislation p.xlii. Nor would it repay the toil of following the investigation
into its boundless ramifications, since after all, every man must
be the best judge of his own sensibilities, – and of the pains &
pleasures which act most influentially upon them. In the penal
field these such considerations are primarily highly important, – since the amount of crime & the quantum
of punishment will to a great extent, have to be estimated by them.
But in the Deontological field a man stands habitually constantly at his own tribunal –
only sometimes far less frequently at that of others.

Into these regions then of pain & pleasure it is the
business of the moralist to bring all human actions in order
to decide on their character of propriety or impropriety of vice or virtue. And in truth it will
be found on examination that from the beginning men of time men
have, imperceptibly often, & in spite of themselves, – been applying this way utilitarian
standard to their actions – even while they have been boldly decrying it.

Identifier: | JB/015/175/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	015	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	175	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f42
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks	j & m mills 1828
Marginals		Paper Producer	john fraunceis gwyn
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1828
Notes public		ID Number	5391
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