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What makes an action virtuous or vicious? David Hume argues that morality rests not on reason alone but on feeling: we call qualities virtuous when they…
What makes an action virtuous or vicious? David Hume argues that morality rests not on reason alone but on feeling: we call qualities virtuous when they arouse in us a sentiment of approval, and we approve of qualities that are useful or agreeable, either to the person who has them or to others. He examines benevolence, justice, which he says arises from its usefulness to society, and the qualities we admire in a person, from courage and cheerfulness to wit and good manners, and in an appendix he argues that reason alone can never move us to act.
David Hume (1711–1776) was born in Edinburgh and wrote his Treatise of Human Nature in his twenties, in France. His scepticism about religion cost him professorships at Edinburgh and Glasgow, but his essays and his History of England made him famous and comfortable.
As secretary to the British embassy in Paris he was adored in the salons, and in Edinburgh he was the warm centre of the Scottish Enlightenment and a close friend of Adam Smith. His Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding woke Kant from his dogmatic slumber. He faced death with a calm and humour that astonished his visitors.