Similarities Between Hume And Utilitarianism

In this paper I will discuss Hume 's notion of morality and compare his understanding of morality with Mill 's utilitarianism and Kant 's deontology ethics. I will dwell into the moral pillars of the Humean ethics and confer his moral principles in sentiments. furthermore, I will talk about Mill 's utilitarian ethics and contrast his notion of happiness with the role of sentiments in Hume 's understanding. on the other hand, I will contrast these two notions of morality with Kant 's deontological principle. Finally, I will contrast the role of reason in Kant 's ethics with the role of sentiments in Humean ethics. Hume believes that moral distinctions are derived from sentiment and not reason. Hume in his book argues that moral

To hume the main object of moral assessment are the character traits. Ones actions are judged based on the traits that evoked them. In his book the Treatise he classifies virtues into two categories, the natural virtues and the artificial virtues. Natural virtues are those traits that are accepted by people whether or not they are living in a large society, whereas artificial virtues are those traits that emerge as agreeable traits in social groups that go beyond small communities. The benefits and enjoyments that are produced by natural virtues are far more reliable than those produced by artificial virtues. natural virtues are those that evoke pleasing sensations on all occasions whereas artificial virtues are those that benefit people but not on all situations, but rather through their wide-spread application in a community over

As mentioned above the importance of reason to Hume is marginal and accessory in his moral theory. The fundamental role goes on the other hand for passions. In fact because we have these passions we need to satisfy them so we invert to institutions which are artifacts that help us provide a regular and secure supply of impressions for our desires. Example, If someone is attached to a belonging, the passion that correspond to this attachment is called avidity, and the institution securing this belonging is called justice. It is the passion that is then at the origin of an institution and all correlative values. For Example, this is why we don 't steal the properties of others. The role of reason in empiricism is called the association of ideas which is limited to a given form for the institution. Avidity only requires satisfaction but doesn 't determine the form of an institution which will provide this satisfaction. Example, we can be socialist, capitalists etc.. all these systems secure our belongings in a different way, because these forms of justice are determined by the association of