登陆注册
5363200000066

第66章

We cannot indeed divest ourselves of love and hatred, of the sentiments of praise and blame, and the ideas of virtue, duty, obligation, debt, bond, right, claim, sin, crime, guilt, merit and desert. And, if we could do so, the effects would be most pernicious, and the world be rendered a blank. We shall however unquestionably, as our minds grow enlarged, be brought to the entire and unreserved conviction, that man is a machine, that he is governed by external impulses, and is to be regarded as the medium only through the intervention of which previously existing causes are enabled to produce certain effects. We shall see, according to an expressive phrase, that he "could not help it," and, of consequence, while we look down from the high tower of philosophy upon the scene of human affairs, our prevailing emotion will be pity, even towards the criminal, who, from the qualities he brought into the world, and the various circumstances which act upon him from infancy, and form his character, is impelled to be the means of the evils, which we view with so profound disapprobation, and the existence of which we so entirely regret.

There is an old axiom of philosophy, which counsels us to "think with the learned, and talk with the vulgar;" and the practical application of this axiom runs through the whole scene of human affairs. Thus the most learned astronomer talks of the rising and setting of the sun, and forgets in his ordinary discourse that the earth is not for ever at rest, and does not constitute the centre of the universe. Thus, however we reason respecting the attributes of inanimate matter and the nature of sensation, it never occurs to us, when occupied with the affairs of actual life, that there is no heat in fire, and no colour in the rainbow.

In like manner, when we contemplate the acts of ourselves and our neighbours, we can never divest ourselves of the delusive sense of the liberty of human actions, of the sentiment of conscience, of the feelings of love and hatred, the impulses of praise and blame, and the notions of virtue, duty, obligation, right, claim, guilt, merit and desert. And it has sufficiently appeared in the course of this Essay, that it is not desirable that we should do so. They are these ideas to which the world we live in is indebted for its crowning glory and greatest lustre. They form the highest distinction between men and other animals, and are the genuine basis of self-reverence, and the conceptions of true nobility and greatness, and the reverse of these attributes, in the men with whom we live, and the men whose deeds are recorded in the never-dying page of history.

But, though the doctrine of the necessity of human actions can never form the rule of our intercourse with others, it will still have its use. It will moderate our excesses, and point out to us that middle path of judgment which the soundest philosophy inculcates. We shall learn, according to the apostolic precept, to "be angry, and sin not, neither let the sun go down upon our wrath." We shall make of our fellow-men neither idols to worship, nor demons to be regarded with horror and execration.

We shall think of them, as of players, "that strut and fret their hour upon the stage, and then are heard no more." We shall "weep, as though we wept not, and rejoice, as though we rejoiced not, seeing that the fashion of this world passeth away." And, most of all, we shall view with pity, even with sympathy, the men whose frailties we behold, or by whom crimes are perpetrated, satisfied that they are parts of one great machine, and, like ourselves, are driven forward by impulses over which they have no real control.

同类推荐
  • 法华文句记

    法华文句记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • WHAT IS MAN

    WHAT IS MAN

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 柳氏传

    柳氏传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大金吊伐录

    大金吊伐录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清金真玉皇上元九天真灵三百六十五部元录

    上清金真玉皇上元九天真灵三百六十五部元录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 某美漫的阴阳师

    某美漫的阴阳师

    一位非酋少年的美漫之路。(ps:以漫威电影为主,时间线作者脑补。)(慢热型)
  • 长生仙箓

    长生仙箓

    就是一篇普普通通,升级打怪的修仙文。1.女主的人设蠢、蠢、蠢2.成长文,慢热。第三卷后才会有挂接受不了人设和这篇风格的建议不要入坑
  • 一本书读懂互联网金融

    一本书读懂互联网金融

    本书从互联网金融的前世今生,以及互联网金融在大数据、第三方支付、网贷、众筹等方面的应用,对什么是互联网金融做出了最好的解释。本书从各个方面讲解了互联网金融的应用,简单易懂,让读者了解什么是互联网金融,以及互联网金融与人们的关系,是每个人都能轻松看懂的互联网金融入门书。
  • 热刺之魂

    热刺之魂

    “英格兰期盼人人都恪尽其责”,这是“英国皇家海军之魂”霍雷肖·纳尔逊的经典名言。“敢作敢为(ToDareIsToDo)”,这是托特纳姆热刺俱乐部的座右铭。有一个人,遵循着这两则信条,在足球界打造了一支皇家海军,建立了属于托特纳姆的王朝!他就是乔治·纳尔逊,白鹿巷的唯一主宰,热刺之魂!
  • 少年寂

    少年寂

    善良少年龙潇雨怀抱着自己的理想与希望,在人生的成长道路上披荆斩棘,她仁慈忍让谦虚上进,而她帮助或忍让过的个别人却得寸进尺恩将仇报,害她历经生死,终在无尽虚空里涅槃重生……
  • 道术达人

    道术达人

    道法通鬼神,拳术洗人心。精魅魍魉怪,通达方为人。
  • 花开在野

    花开在野

    海螺,一位热爱文学创作的女子,爱生活,爱自己,更爱那位陪伴他的人——木勒先生。得知生命已快尽头,但依旧积极乐观地生活,珍惜着每一分钟,度过了最后的时光。
  • 最速救护车司机传说

    最速救护车司机传说

    书友企鹅群:535765042八分之一的空间。更少的人手。但他们做着与急诊室一样的工作。并且以60公里每小时的速度前进着。多耽误一分钟,病人的危险就多不只一分。在救护车司机的圈子里,流传着这样的一个说法:如果车开得够快,死神便无法追上救护车中生命垂危的病人。“雅湘附二医院编号0110,湘AGZ689,正在前往事发地点!”
  • 心动

    心动

    暗恋时光中的五个瞬间:直到后来,倪清词才明白,或许她对林致远所有的感情,都来自于那个有些寒冷的秋日下午,他只是站在那里轻轻微笑,她便在劫难逃。
  • 任正非:工程师要有一点商人的味道

    任正非:工程师要有一点商人的味道

    任正非认为,即使是身在工程师这个岗位,也要为满足客户需求的产品和服务。