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3) Homicide.
Mischiefs private Maupertuis, for he it is of whom I speak,
has stated pronounced the ballance roundly and without
hesitation to be on the side of Pain.
He has asserted, and to his apprehension proved
that in into the composition of the lives of most men, nay that of
every man, there is enters beyond comparison more
of Pain than Pleasure.
This reasoning however did not prevent the melancholy Philosopher from living out his time. Hence some might take occasion to infer, that his real persuasion was contrary to his discourse opposite to that which To live he avowed. To live on, it might seem to them, was to give the lie to his discourse. Here some will might perhaps be ready to remark that
the Philosopher's conduct gave the lie to
his discourse: it proved that his persuasion
was contrary to what he declared it to be.
For having written this, he lived still supposed
himself to live.
It is the fear of death, that is of the pain and
pleasure expected to precede and follow it, rather
than the love of life.
The conclusion inference however is by no means just
just. He might think as he said, that the
probable pains of the portion of life he had
to come were greater than the probable pleasures,
and still find a more than one motive to restrain
him from putting an period end to it.
This motive might be in the first place
Death is not to be effected parted with Life is not to be destroyed at least by any
means of a man's own agency, without being
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Identifier: | JB/072/146/003 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 72.
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not numbered |
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072 |
penal code |
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146 |
homicide |
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003 |
mischiefs private |
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text sheet |
4 |
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recto |
e1 / e2 / e3 / e4 |
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jeremy bentham |
[[watermarks::l v g [pro patria [with motif]]] |
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caroline vernon |
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23763 |
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