An Enquiry concerning POLITICAL JUSTICE and its influence on General virtue and
Happiness
In two volumes
VOL. I
CONTENT
Of the First Book
OF THE IMPORTANCE OF
THE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS.
Chapter 1.
INTRODUCTION
The subject proposed. – System of indifference.
– Of passive obedience. – Of liberty extended.
Chap. 2.
HISTORY OF POLITICAL SOCIETY.
Frequency of war. – Among the ancients. – Among
the moderns. – The French. – The English. – Causes of war. – Penal laws. – Despotism.
– Deduction. – Enumeration of Arguments.
THE MORAL CHARACTERS OF MEN
Chap. 3.
THE MORAL CHARACTERS
OF MEN ORIGINATE IN THEIR PERCEPTIOS
No innate principles. – Objections to this
assertion. – From the early actions of infants. – From the desire of
self-preservation. – From self-love. – From pity. – From the vices of the
children. – Tyranny. – Sullenness. – Conclusion.
Chap. 4.
THREE PRINCIPAL CAUSES
OF MORAL IMPROVEMENT CONSIDERED.
I. Literature
Benefits of literature. – Examples. – Essential
properties of literature. – Its defects.
II. Education.
Benefits of education. – Causes of its
imbecility.
III. Political justice.
Benefits of political institution. –
Universality of its influence. – Proved by mistakes of society. – Origin of
evil.
Chap. 5.
INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL
INSTITUTIONS EXEPLIFIED.
Robbery and fraud, two great vices in society.
– Originate, a) in extreme poverty; b) in the ostentation of the rich; c) in
their tyranny. – Rendered permanent, a) By legislation; b) By the
administration of law; c) By the inequality of condition.
Chap. 6.
HUMAN INVENTIONS
CAPABLE OF PERPETUAL IMPROVEMENT.
Perfectibility of man. – Instanced, first, in
language. – Its beginnings. – Abstraction. – Complexity of language. – Second
instance: alphabetical writings. – Hieroglyphics at first universal. –
Progressive deviations. – Application.
Chap. 7.
OF THE OBJECTION TO THIS PRINCIPLES FROM THE
INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE.
Part I
OF MORAL AND PHYSICAL
CAUSES.
The question stated. – Provinces of sensation
and reflection. – Moral causes frequently mistaken for physical. – Superiority
of the former evident from the variety of human character. – Operation of
physical causes rare. – Fertility of reflection. – Physical causes in the first
instance superior, afterwards moral. – Objection from the effect of breed in
animals. – Conclusion.
Part II.
OF NATIONAL
CHARACTERS.
Character of the priesthood. – All nations
capable of liberty. – The assertion illustrated. – Experience favors these
reasoning. - Means of introducing liberty.
Chap. 8.
OF THE OBJECTION TO
THESE PRINCIPLES FROM THE INFLUENCE OF LUXURY.
The objection stated. – Source of this
objection. – Refuted from mutability. – From mortality. – From sympathy. – From
the nature of truth. – The probability of perseverance considered.
BOOK II
PRINCIPLES OF SOCIETY.
Chap. 1.
INTRODUCTION.
Nature of the enquiry. – Mode of pursuing it. –
Distinction between society and government.
Chap. 2.
OF JUSTICE.
Connections of politics and morals. – Extent
and meaning of justice: Mankind. – Its distribution measured by the capacity of
its subjects. – By his usefulness. – Family affection considered. – Gratitude
considered. – Objections: from ignorance/from utility. – An exception stated. –
Degrees of justice. – Application. – Idea of political justice.
Appendix No. 1
OF SUICIDE
Motives of suicide: a) escape from the pain; b)
benevolence. – Martyrdom considered.
Appendix No. 2.
OF DUELING
Motives of dueling: a) revenge; b) reputation
for courage. – Fallacy of this motive. – Objection answered. – Illustration.
Chap. 3.
OF DUTY
A difficulty stated. – Of absolute and
practical virtue. – Impropriety of this distinction. – Universality of what is
called practical virtue. – Instanced in robbery. – In religious fanaticism. –
The quality of an action distinct from the disposition with which it is
performed. – Farther difficulty. – Meaning of the term, duty. – Application. – Inferences.
OF THE EQUALITY
Chap. 4.
OF THE EQUALITY OF
MANKIND.
Physical equality. – Objection. – Answers. –
Moral equality. – How limited. – Province of political justice.
Chap. 5.
RIGHTS OF MAN.
The question stated. – Foundation of society. –
Opposite rights impossible. – Conclusion from these premises. – Discretion
considered. – Rights of kings. – Immoral consequences of the doctrine of
rights. – Rights of communities. – Objections: a) the right of mutual aid,
explanation (origin of the term, right); b) Right of private judgment and of
press. – Explanation. – Reasons of this limitation upon the functions of the
community: a) the inutility of attempting restraint; b) its pernicious
tendency. – Conclusion.
Chap. 6.
OF THE EXERCISE OF
PRIVATE JUDGMENT.
Foundation of the virtue. – Human actions
regulated: a) by the nature of things; b) by the positive institution. –
Tendency of the later: a) to excite virtue – its equivocal character in this
respect; b) to inform the judgment. – Its inaptitude for that purpose. –
Province of conscience considered / tendency of an interference with that
province. – Recapitulation. – Arguments in favor of positive institution: a)
the necessity of repelling private injustice. – Objections: the uncertainty of
evidence. – The diversity of motives. – The unsuitableness of the means of
correction. – Either to impress new sentiments, or to strengthen old ones. –
Punishment for the sake of example considered. – Urgency of the case: a)
rebellion; b) war. – Objections. – Reply.
BOOK III
PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT
Chap. 1
SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL
WRITERS.
The question stated. – First hypothesis: government
founded in superior strength. – Second hypothesis: government Jure Divino. – Third hypothesis: the
social contract. – The first hypothesis examined. – The second. – Criterion of
divine right: a) patriarchal descent; b) justice.
Chap. 2.
OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT.
Queries proposed. – Who are the contracting
parties? – What is the form of engagement? – Over how long period does the
contract extend? – To how great variety of propositions? – Can it extend to
laws hereafter to be made? – Addresses of adhesion considered. – Power of a
majority.
Chap. 3.
OF PROMISES.
The validity of promises examined. – Shown to
be inconsistent with justice. – To be foreign to the general good. – Of the
expectation of excited. – The fulfilling the expectation does not imply the
validity of a promise. – Conclusion.
Chap. 4.
OF POLITICAL
AUTHORITY.
Common deliberation of the true foundation of
government. – Proved from the equal claims of mankind. – From the nature of our
faculties. – From the object of government. – From the effects of common
deliberation. – Delegation vindicated. – Difference between the doctrine here
maintained and that of a social contract apparent. – From the merely
prospective nature of the former. – From the nullity of promises. – From the fallibility of
deliberation. – Conclusion.
Chap. 5.
OF LEGISLATION.
Society can declare and interpret, but cannot
enact. – Its authority only executive.
Chap. 6.
ON OBEDIENCE.
Obedience not the correlative of authority. –
No man bound to yield obedience to another. – Case of submission considered. –
Foundation of obedience. – Usefulness of social communication. – Case of
confidence considered. – Its limitation. – Mischief of unlimited confidence. –
Subjection explained.
Appendix.
Moral principles frequently elucidated by
incidental reflection. – By incidental passages in various authors. – Example.
Chap. 8.
OF FORMS OF
GOVERNMENT.
Argument in favor of a variety of forms. –
Compared with the argument in favor of variety of religious creeds. – That
there is one best form of government proved. – From the unity of truth. – From
the nature of man. – Objection from human weakness and prejudice. – Danger in
establishing an imperfect code. – Manners of nations produced by their forms of
government. – Gradual improvement necessary. – Simplicity chiefly to be
desired. – Publication of truth the Grand instrument. – By individuals, not the
government. – The truth entire, not by parcels. – Sort of progress to be
desired.
BOOK IV.
MISCELLANOUS PRINCIPLES.
Chap. 1.
ON RESISTANCE.
Every individual the judge of his own
resistance. – Objection. – Answered from the nature of government. – From the
modes of resistance: a) force rarely to be employed, either where there is
small prospect of success, or where prospect is great; b) history of Charles I
estimated. - Reasoning the legitimate mode.
Chap. 2.
OF REVOLUTIONS.
Section 1.
DUTIES OF A CITIZEN.
Obligation to support the constitution of our
country considered. – Must arise either from the reason of the case, or from a
personal and local consideration. – The first examined. – The second.
Section 2.
MODE OF EFFECTING REVOLITONS.
Persuasion the proper instrument. – Not
violence, nor resentment. – Lateness of event desirable.
Section 3.
OF POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
Meaning of the term. – Associations objected
to: a) from the sort of persons with
whom a just revolution should originate; b) from the danger of tumult. – Object
of association. – In what cases admissible. – Argued for from the necessity to
give weight to opinion. – From their tendency to ascertain opinion. –
Unnecessary for these purposes. – General inutility. – Concessions. –
Importance of social communication. – Propriety of teaching resistance
considered.
Section 4.
OF THE SPECIES OF REFORM TO BE DESIRED.
Ought it to be partial or entire? – Truth may
not be partially taught. – Partial reformation considered. – Objection. –
Answer. – partial reform indispensable. – Nature of a just revolution. – How
distant?
Chap. 3.
ON TYRANNICIDE.
…
(first published 1793)
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