Liberty And Necessity

The direct passions are the impressions arising immediately from:

• good or evil
• pain or pleasure.

Of this kind are:

• desire and aversion
• grief and joy
• hope and fear.

The Will

The most remarkable of the immediate effect of pain and pleasure is the WILL.

• The will is not one of the passions.

‘Will’ is the internal impression we feel when we knowingly create any new:

• bodily motion, or
• mental perception

It is impossible to define ‘will’.

The operations of external bodies are necessary.

There are no traces of indifference or liberty in:

• the communication of their motion
• their attraction and mutual cohesion.

Every object is determined by an absolute fate to a certain degree and direction of its motion.

It can no more depart from its precise line of movement, than it can convert itself into an angel, spirit, or any superior substance.

Therefore, the actions of matter are instances of necessary actions.

Whatever is in this respect on the same footing with matter, must be acknowledged to be necessary.

We shall examine matter so that we may know:

• whether this is the case with the mind’s actions.
• why we conclude one body or action to be the infallible cause of another, considering the necessity of its operations.

The ultimate connection of any objects is discoverable by our senses or by reason in no single instance.

We can never penetrate so far into the essence and construction of bodies, as to perceive the principle of their mutual influence.

We are acquainted only with their constant union.

The necessity arises from the constant union.

If objects had no uniform and regular conjunction with each other, we would never arrive at any idea of cause and effect.

The necessity, which enters into the idea of cause and effect, is nothing but a determination of the mind to:

• pass from one object to its usual attendant
• infer the existence of one from that of the other.

Necessity requires:

• the constant union
• the inference of the mind.

The actions of matter have no necessity, but what is derived from these circumstances.

We do not discover their connection by any insight into the essence of bodies.

The absence of this insight, while the union and inference remain, will never remove the necessity.

The observation of the union which produces the inference.

It might be sufficient to prove a constant union in the mind’s actions to establish the inference, along with their necessity.

I shall examine these particulars apart to give my reasoning more force.

I shall first prove that our actions have a constant union with our motives, tempers, and circumstances, before I consider our inferences from them.

A very general view of common human affairs will be sufficient to prove this.

Whether we consider mankind according to the difference of sexes, ages, governments, conditions, or educational methods, the same uniformity and regular operation of natural principles are discernible.

Like causes still produce like effects; in the same manner as in the mutual action of the elements and powers of nature.

There are different trees which regularly produce fruit, whose relish is different from each other.

This regularity is an instance of necessity and causes in external bodies.

But are the products of Guienne and of Champagne more regularly different than the sentiments, actions, and passions of man and woman?

Men are distinguished by their force and maturity.

Women are distinguished by their delicacy and softness.

Are the changes of our body from infancy to old age more regular and certain than those of our mind and conduct?

Would a man expecting a four-year old infant to lift a 300 pound weight, be more ridiculous than a man who expects an infant to look for a philosophical reasoning, or a prudent and well-concerted action?

The cohesion of the parts of matter arises from natural and necessary principles, whatever difficulty we may find in explaining them.

We must allow that:

• human society is founded on like principles
• our reason in the latter case is better than even that in the former.

Because we:

• observe that men always seek society
• can explain the principles of this universal propensity.

Is it more certain that two flat pieces of marble will unite together, than a young male and female savage will copulate?

Do the children from this copulation arise more uniformly, than the parents who care for their safety?

After they have grown up, are the inconveniencies in their separation from their parents more certain than their:

• foresight of these inconveniencies
• avoidance through a close union and confederacy?

The skin, pores, muscles, nerves, sentiments, actions and manners of a day-labourer are different from those of a man of quality.

The different stations of life influence the whole external and internal fabric.