JB/015/385/001

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61

But these pleasures of sex stand on the same ground as every other
pleasure, and want can be placed in their pure basis by the Deontological
principle alone.

Certain it is that asceticism calling itself religion has set its
face against them – and by deductions from that most false &
most pernicious dogma that the favor of heaven is alone to
be purchased only by the sacrifice of pleasure, has fixed either dragged with the
highest most sensible of pleasures as the for sacrifice.
And truly a great inroad was made upon that the domains
of virtue when it was laid down as a religious axiom that
these pleasures are simply & so immoral and offensive
to the Duty, & that abstention from them is in itself
meritorious. It was only by giving to gathering round the word Chastity a
mist of confusion that a case was could be seemingly made out for
the virtue of abstention from enjoyment, under all circumstance,
& without any reference to ultimate good or evil.

Is not Chastity then a virtue? Most undoubtedly, – &
a virtue of high deserving. And why? Not because it
diminishes – but because it heightens enjoyment.

Is not Temperance a virtue? Aye – assuredly is it?.
But wherefore? Because it restrains enjoyment – & can
keeps it to that very pitch which leaves on the whole the
largest addition to the stock of happiness.

Modesty, itself a ramification & evidence of chastity,
what is it but an invention by which pleasure is augmented?
Modesty dictates concealment, – concealment stimulates curiosity, –
curiosity augments desire, and with previous desire subsequent
gratification increases.

Modesty in fact is to one appetite a hot bitters or acids
are to another – they contribute to the its healthfulness & to the
enjoyment of pleasurableness, not by their similarity, but by their
contrast. If they create a temporary disagreeableness & repulsion
yet they produce on the whole a greater amount of agreeable sensations
than would have been experienced without them. If they repel
a pleasure of the palate, – & substitute an annoyance – it is only
to create a greater & more enduring pleasure.

In fact – Temperance – Modesty – Chastity – are among

Identifier: | JB/015/385/001 "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	385	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	2
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f61 / f62
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks	[[watermarks::i i smith & son 1831 [britannia with shield emblem]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer	maria edgeworth
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1831
Notes public		ID Number	5601
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