That such an order exists, however, is acknowledged by every sane man:
"Our idea, therefore, of necessity and causation, arises entirely
from the uniformity observable in the operations of nature, where
similar objects are constantly conjoined together, and the mind is
determined by custom to infer the one from the appearance of the
other. These two circumstances form the whole of that necessity
which we ascribe to matter. Beyond the constant _conjunction_ of
similar objects and the consequent _inference_ from one to the
other, we have no notion of any necessity of connexion.
"If it appear, therefore, what all mankind have ever allowed,
without any doubt or hesitation, that these two circumstances take
place in the voluntary actions of men, and in the operations of
mind, it must follow that all mankind have ever agreed in the
doctrine of necessity, and that they have hitherto disputed merely
from not understanding each other."--(IV. p. 97.)
But is this constant conjunction observable in human actions? A student
of history could give but one answer to this question:
"Ambition, avarice, self-love, vanity, friendship, generosity,
public spirit: these passions, mixed in various degrees, and
distributed through society, have been, from the beginning of the
world, and still are, the source of all the actions and enterprizes
which have ever been observed among mankind.
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