PALEY
586
PALEY
law of the land, and the Scriptures, as rules of action ; rejecting, after Locke, tlie notion of a moral sense, or an innate capacity of moral judgment; and defining what he means by human happiness and virtue), Paley pro- ceeds to explain the principles and to lay down the foun- dation of his system. His desire of introducing into the foundation of his system too much of the exactness of demonstrative science, has occasionally led him to define things -which in their nature are indeterminate and cannot be brought within the limits of a precise and formal definition. His account of the law of honor and of virtue is of this character. He is also too fond of putting forward disjunctive propositions, and reasoning upon them as if they were exhaustive, as in the in- stance of the methods of administering justice. Hence his applications are sometimes fettered and his conclu- sions defective. The gist of his views on these topics is found in book ii, " On Moral Obligation." A man is said to be obliged when he is urged by a violent motive re- sulting from the command of another. In moral matters, the motive is the expectation of future reward or pun- ishment, and the command is from God. Hence private happiness is the motive, and the will of God the rule. But how is the will of God known? From two sources— the declarations of Scripture, and the light of nature; and the method of coming at the divine will concerning any action by the light of nature is to inquire into the tendency of the action to promote or diminish the gen- eral happiness. Here, then, Paley arrives at his prin- ciple that "whatever is expedient is right. It is the utility of any moral rule alone which constitutes the obligation of it." Its utility is to be determined by a consideration of general consequences ; it must be expe- dient upon the whole, in the long run, in all its effects collateral and remote, as well as in those which are im- mediate and direct. Having settled his principle, he proceeds to apph* it to the determination of moral duties. He makes a threefold division of duties : namely, those which a man owes to his neighbor, or relative duties; those which he owes to himself; and those which he owes to God. The first set are determinate or inde- terminate : determinate, such as promises, contracts, oaths. The obligation to keep a promise, according to the principle of expediency, arises from the circum- stance that " confidence in promises is essential to the intercourse of human life ;" and the sense in which a promise is to be interpreted is that which the promiser knowingly and willingly conveys to the mind of the person to whom it is made. Contracts are mutual prom- ises, and therefore governed by the same principles ; consequently, whatever is expected by one side, and known to be so expected by the other, is to be deemed a part or condition of the contract. Oaths are to be in- terpreted according to the "animus imponentis," that is, in the sense which the imposer intends by them. In- determinate duties are charity, gratitude, and the like. They are called indeterminate because no precise and formal limits can be assigned to their exercise. Another class belonging to this first set of duties originate from the constitution of the sexes. The second set of duties are those which a man owes to himself. As there are few duties or crimes whose effects are confined to the individual, little is said about them. A man's duty to himself consists in the care of his faculties and the pres- ervation of his person, and the guarding against those practices which tend to injure the one or the other. The third division of duties are those which are due to God. In one sense, every duty is a duty to God; but there are some (if which (Jod is the object as well as the author: these are worship and reverence. The second part, which is devoted to the elements of political knowledge, is pervaded, in determining the grounds of civil government, and the reasons of obedience to it, by the same principle as that which constitutes the foun- dation of his moral system — '• Utility." Public utility is the foundation of all govenmicnt. Hence, whatever irregularity or violations of equity, or fraud and violence