Francis Hutcheson, Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions with Illustrations on the Moral Sense

Daniel Floyd (University of Aberdeen)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Gina Lyle (University of York), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Domains

Philosophy (any)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1728

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Recommended Reading

Comprising two treatises, Francis Hutcheson’s

An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections. With Illustrations on the Moral Sense

(1728) was his second major publication that sought to refute the doctrine that self-interest was the supreme guiding principle of all rational actions. Hutcheson devised the concept of a moral sense, which supplemented reason in determining the most effective ways to advance the well-being of society, to counter the egoism espoused by philosophers, such as Thomas Hobbes, whose

Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill

(1651) argued that individuals consented to be ruled by a monarch to restrain their supposedly natural inclination to mutual slaughter. To preclude a perpetual state of war, each…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

3880 words

Citation: Floyd, Daniel. "Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions with Illustrations on the Moral Sense". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 September 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19834, accessed 24 November 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article