JB/015/358/001

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34

those opinions find no add light to guide, & are but too
willing from mere love of ease to allow the usurper to set up
his throne of judgment. If a a man is to determine as to
the value of an action by its consequences he must study those
consequences – he must present them to those whose approval
or condemnation of the action he desires to obtain – he exposes
himself to contradiction if he misrepresents – to correction if he
voluntarily or involuntarily errs. The blanks he leaves may
be filled up – the exaggerations he introduces may be cut
down –] he is, in a word, forced to come into the Court with
his witnesses – and to establish his case by evidence he
can adduce. But if on the contrary he can by the his own
dictum proclaim that for the action there was a bad motive, – or a good motive in
the mind of the actor, – & therefore the action must be
right or wrong – the judgment becomes is an easy process –
its decrees are not complicated by a variety of entanglements. Good
& evil present themselves at once – & thus rashness & self-conceit
perform functions which belong to reason & philosophy.

Then again the perception of the prodigious strength of authority comes in
aid of the self-regarding affections. The same notions inducements
which influence the motive-denouncer have to a greater
or less extent influenced every body else. Authority – with
prejudices its favorite & baleful progeny – ally themselves
with the self-egotistical principle. In the estimate of conduct
derivative judgment is wont to take possession of nearly the
whole question – leaving scarcely any portion to the
decision of self formed judgment . Thus in the determination
of human action two elements become frequently the most principal
guides – self-presumption & blind deference – qualities which
seem somewhat incompatible indeed but which unite
in mischievous influence – the deference being third in fact
submission to that species of authority which flatters the
self-regarding principle.

Identifier: | JB/015/358/001 "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	358	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f34
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks	i i smith & son 1831
Marginals		Paper Producer	maria edgeworth
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1831
Notes public		ID Number	5574
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