Justice And Injustice on Superphysics

Is Justice A Natural Or Artificial Virtue?

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Virtuous Motive Comes Before The Regard To The Virtue

Our sense of virtue is not natural.

There are some virtues that produce pleasure and approbation through artifice arising from mankind’s circumstances and necessity.

The Private and Public Interests Are Not The Motive To Justice Or Morality

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

We then need to find some motive to acts of justice and honesty, distinct from our regard to the honesty.

This is very difficult.

If we say that a concern for our self-interest is the legitimate motive to all honest actions, then when self-interest ceases, honesty can no longer have place.

The Origin Of Justice And Property

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hume’s Division of Labour

We now examine two distinct questions:

How the rules of justice are established by men’s artifice, and
Why we attribute a moral beauty and deformity to the observance or neglect of these rules.

At first sight, nature seems to have been most cruel to man of all animals, in:

Economic Justice

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This contrariety of passions would have a small danger if it did not concur with our outward circumstances.

Different goods provide us with:

the internal satisfaction of our minds,
- We are perfectly secure in the enjoyment of this.
the external advantages of our body, and
- This may be ravished from us by others.
- But they can get no advantage in doing so.
the enjoyment of those possessions acquired by our industry and good fortune. These are exposed to the violence of others. These may be transferred without suffering any loss or alteration. There are not enough of these goods to supply everyone’s desires and necessities. The improvement of these goods is the chief advantage of society. Their scarcity and the instability of their possession is the chief impediment.

We should not:

Property and Justice

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The ideas of justice and injustice, as well as those of property, right, and obligation immediately arise after:

this convention concerning abstinence from the possessions of others is entered into, and
everyone has acquired a stability in his possessions.

This is unintelligible without first understanding the abstinence.

The State Of Nature; And Common Interest As The Origin Of Justice

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The state of nature is:

the imaginary state which preceded society
a mere fiction, like the golden age invented by poets.
full of war, violence and injustice.

Whereas, the golden age is the most charming and peaceable condition imaginable.

The rules of justice are established merely by interest

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

2. The rules of justice are established merely by interest, but their connection with interest is singular and different each time.

A single act of justice is frequently contrary to public interest.

The Rules Which Determine Property

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Stability of Possession

The establishment of the rule on the stability of possession is useful and absolutely necessary to human society.

But it can never serve to any purpose while it remains in such general terms.

The Rules For The Stability Of Possession

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The rule of the assignment of property to the present possessor is natural and useful.

But its usefulness does not extend beyond the initial formation of society.

Always assigning property to its present possessor is most pernicious, because it:

The Influence Of Time On Possession

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The title of first possession often becomes obscure through time.

It is impossible to determine many controversies arising from it.

In this case, long possession or prescription naturally takes place.

Addressing the Objection

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

It will be easy to solve this objection if we consider the imagination’s agility and unsteadiness, with the different views it is continually placing its objects in.

When we attribute to a person a property in two objects, we do not always pass:

Judgment on the End Result

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The most curious of all these kinds of questions is the one which divided the disciples of Proculus and Sabinus for so many ages.

Suppose that:

a person makes a cup from another person’s metal, or a ship from his wood, and then
the proprietor of the metal or wood demands his goods.

Does he acquire a title to the cup or ship?

The Transference Of Property By Consent

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The stability of possession has very considerable inconveniences, no matter how useful or necessary it is to human society.

The relation of suitableness should never enter the distribution of mankind’s properties.

The Obligation of Promises

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A Promise Is Not Natural Obligation

The rule of morality which enjoins the performance of promises is not natural.

This will appear from these 2 propositions:

A promise would not be intelligible before human conventions had established it
Even if a promise were intelligible, it would not be attended with any moral obligation

I. A promise is not intelligible naturally, nor antecedent to human conventions.

Self-Interest

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

To discover these necessities and interests, we must consider the same qualities of human nature, which lead to the laws of society.

Men:

are naturally selfish or only have a confined generosity
are not easily induced to perform actions for the interest of strangers, except with a view to some reciprocal advantage
- They hope to obtain this advantage only by such a performance.

These mutual performances cannot be finished at the same instant.

The Obligation Of Promises Is An Invention For The Interest Of Society

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The knowledge of the observance of promises is not esteemed superior to the capacity of human nature, however savage and uncultivated.

Only a very little practice of the world is needed to make us see these consequences and advantages.

More Reflections On Justice And Injustice

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Arguments To Prove That Justice Is Artificial

The 3 fundamental laws of nature are:

The stability of possession
Its transference by consent
The performance of promises.

The peace and security of human society entirely depend the strict observance of those three laws.

Argument 2: Property, Right, And Obligation Do Not Admit of Variations

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

All kinds of vice and virtue run insensibly into each other.

They may approach so imperceptibly that it is difficult to know when the one ends and the other begins.

The Origin of Government

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Short-Sightedness Of Humans

Men are most certainly governed by interest in a great measure.

Even when they extend their concern beyond themselves, it is not to any great distance.

The Advantages Of Government

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It is impossible to change or correct anything material in our nature.

The utmost we can do is to:

change our circumstances and situation, and
render the observance of the laws of justice our nearest interest, and their violation our most remote.

But this is impractical with respect to all mankind.

The Source Of Allegiance

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Promises And The Establishment Of Government

Government is a very advantageous invention.

Sometimes, it is even absolutely necessary to mankind.

It is not necessary in all circumstances.

It is possible for men to preserve society for some time without government.

Government is an Artificial Invention

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Those philosophers, who assert justice to be a natural virtue antecedent to human conventions, can reasonably:

resolve all civil allegiance into the obligation of a promise, and
assert that it is our own consent alone, which binds us to any submission to magistracy.

All government is plainly an invention of men.

Our civil duties

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Without our civil duties:

no government could subsist, nor
no peace or order could be maintained in large societies where there are:
- so many possessions on the one hand, and
- so many real or imaginary wants on the other.

Our civil duties, therefore, must soon:

Rebellion

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The distinction of moral good and evil is founded on the pleasure or pain resulting from the view of any sentiment or character.

That pleasure or pain must be known to the person who feels it.

The Measures Of Allegiance

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Allegiance For Protection And Security

Some political writers thought of a promise, or original contract, as the source of our allegiance to government.

They intended to establish a perfectly just and reasonable principle. But the reasoning which established it was fallacious and sophistical.

The Objects Of Allegiance

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Submission To Government

Sometimes it may be justifiable to resist supreme power in sound politics and morality.

But ordinarily, nothing can be more pernicious and criminal.

Such revolutions always cause:

Long Possession

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The First Source Of Authority: Long Possession

Most established governments get their authority from the principle of long possession in any one form of government, or the succession of princes.

Right of Succession

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Fourth Source Of Authority: Right of Succession

The right of succession naturally prevails after the founding sovereign dies when long possession, present possession, or conquest do not take place.

The Glorious Revolution

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

English readers will here ask about the Glorious Revolution which:

had such a happy influence on our constitution, and
had such mighty consequences.

In the case of enormous tyranny and oppression, it is lawful to take arms even against supreme power.

The Laws of Nations

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nations as Persons

A new set of duties arises among neighbouring states, suitable to the nature of their commerce with each other after:

civil government has been established over most of mankind, and
different societies have been formed contiguous to each other.

Political writers tell us that in every kind of intercourse, a body politic is like one person.

Chastity and Modesty

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Difference Between Male And Female Anatomy

The difficulty in this system on the laws of nature and nations is in the universal approbation or blame:

which follows their observance or transgression, and
which some may think is not fully explained from society’s general interests.

To remove all scruples of this kind, I shall consider the duties of modesty and chastity in women.