If the latter be the case, it follows
that property, which is the object of justice, is also
distinguished by a simple original instinct, and is not ascertained
by any argument or reflection. But who is there that ever heard of
such an instinct? Or is this a subject in which new discoveries can
be made? We may as well expect to discover in the body new senses
which had before escaped the observation of all mankind."--(IV. pp.
273, 4.)
The restriction of the object of justice to property, in this passage,
is singular. Pleasure and pain can hardly be included under the term
property, and yet justice surely deals largely with the withholding of
the former, or the infliction of the latter, by men on one another. If a
man bars another from a pleasure which he would otherwise enjoy, or
actively hurts him without good reason, the latter is said to be injured
as much as if his property had been interfered with. Here, indeed, it
may be readily shown, that it is as much the interest of society that
men should not interfere with one another's freedom, or mutually inflict
positive or negative pain, as that they should not meddle with one
another's property; and hence the obligation of justice in such matters
may be deduced. But, if a man merely thinks ill of another, or feels
maliciously towards him without due cause, he is properly said to be
unjust. In this case it would be hard to prove that any injury is done
to society by the evil thought; but there is no question that it will be
stigmatised as an injustice; and the offender himself, in another frame
of mind, is often ready enough to admit that he has failed to be just
towards his neighbour.
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