Enquiry Concerning the Priniciples of Morals Essays

In his Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Hume offers up a number of virtues and qualities which are valued for any of four reasons: they are useful to the individual, useful to society, agreeable to the individual, or agreeable to society. One of the qualities which Hume elucidates is justice. This quality, however, according to Hume, is valued solely for its usefulness and not upon any agreeability to anyone. Hume explains his position thusly. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Hume imagines a scenario in which all things are both readily available and easy to obtain. In this situation, he says, justice is worthless, as there would be no squabbling or conflict over property rights, as replacing that which someone takes from you is†¦show more content†¦nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;To proceed in Hume’s own order, we must first examine the example of the Golden Age, the situation when all things are easily obtained. In this situation, Hume argues, the need for justice would be gone, as anything taken from you can be easily replaced. There are, however, numerous examples of this being entirely incorrect. Take, for example, Hume’s statement that this even applies to land, when it is in extreme abundance. However, you recall the Kansas Land Rush of 1889. In this situation, land was in the millions of acres, all waiting to be had, and yet dozens were killed over one small parcel of it. Jealousy and envy are not dispelled by mere abundance. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;A troubling factor in Hume’s explanations of justice is that they all entail property justice. And what a small part of justice that is! In Hume’s utopia, then, a man whose wife leaves him for another would merely shrug his shoulders and go order a new one? And what consideration would be given, in absence of â€Å"useful† justice, to a man who was stabbed in an argument? Mere abundance of resources is hardly a thing to alleviate all problems. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The second example I discarded immediately, and I will explain more fully for my reasons in doing so. By creating a world in which there is absolute benevolence, Hume has