David Hume's Distinction Between Natural and Artificial Virtues

David Hume's "Humanity Theory" divides the human virtues into two categories. It is natural and man-made. He considers that the law is artificial and invention of mankind. Therefore, he pointed out that justice is an artificial virtue and not a natural virtue. He believes that humans are inherently moral - they are born with a constant moral mind and in order to understand our "moral idea", study human psychology To do is the key. In this article I will explain the difference between Hume's nature and artificial virtue.

Hume discussed a wide catalog of special virtues and vices. His story in "thesis" is based on the distinction between "natural" virtue and "human" virtue, which can easily be misunderstood. The question is not whether some virtues are fake or imitation, and whether other virtues are genuine or not. The problem is whether some people rely on social rules and customs, but others do not. Organizing his catalog by this distinction deals with people who believe that Hume emerges from people who think morality as a complete tradition (eg Bernard Mandeville) and social customs that it is independent of social customs Francis Hutcheson) According to Hume's view, some virtues depend on social customs, but others are not (Cohon 2008: 162-163). In both cases, he is trying to explain why people tend to develop these characteristics, and why they tend to pick sensible spectators.

In his work "Humanity theory", David Hume divides virtues into two categories, artificial virtue and natural virtue. Hume pointed out that courage is a natural virtue in paper. Among the paper's "pride and humility, its purpose and cause", Hume clearly shows that courage is the cause of pride. Witness, goodwill, learning, courage, justice, honesty, all these are the reasons for pride, and the opposite of their humility.

Hume identified two such virtues, one of which is the natural virtue. It is essential to understand the difference between this series of virtues and artificial virtues before exploring why Hume places great emphasis on artificial virtues and why they are distinguished from global virtues. Hume explains the virtues of nature as virtues as human beings in the natural environment, except for the social structures around us. Indeed, they are the values ​​we have in an environment without government, judicial system or social structure like monarch. You can see that Hume develops his thought using Thomas Hobbes' "state of nature" and other ideas. Social constraints, contracts, and Hume use it to understand what kind of virtue we might have in such an environment.