An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals
Hume investigates qualities that attract approval and esteem, connecting utility, agreeableness, sentiment and correction of our personal viewpoint.
Understanding the text
He considered this enquiry particularly successful; it reworks the Treatise’s ethics in a more accessible form.
Key points
- 01
Utility
Qualities useful to oneself or others support approval without reducing every virtue to selfish calculation.
- 02
Sympathy
Concern for others’ welfare explains why benefits to strangers can affect us.
- 03
Justice
Conventions respond to social circumstances and the requirements of cooperation.
Explore the ideas in depth
Feel, compare and judge
Hume investigates qualities that attract approval and esteem, connecting utility, agreeableness, sentiment and correction of our personal viewpoint.
Utility
Qualities useful to oneself or others support approval without reducing every virtue to selfish calculation. He considered this enquiry particularly successful; it reworks the Treatise’s ethics in a more accessible form.
Sympathy
Concern for others’ welfare explains why benefits to strangers can affect us. Read the sections on justice and utility, then the appendix on moral sentiment. Distinguish a judgment’s origin from our capacity to debate and correct it.
Justice
Conventions respond to social circumstances and the requirements of cooperation. Help given to a stranger can please you without bringing any personal advantage.
Questions to carry into your reading
- Can a moral sentiment be corrected?
- Why does a stranger’s welfare matter to us?
Read the sections on justice and utility, then the appendix on moral sentiment. Distinguish a judgment’s origin from our capacity to debate and correct it.
How to read it
Read the sections on justice and utility, then the appendix on moral sentiment. Distinguish a judgment’s origin from our capacity to debate and correct it.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗