PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Htl11llJR HoppineJ~. 58
sages of what we are to look for bereafter_; t~, I
answer, is to resort to a rule and a' motIve, ultenor :
to the instincts themselves, and at which rule and
motive. we shall by and by arrive by a surer road­
I say surer, so long as there remaiJis a controversy
w bether tbere be any instinctive maxims at all; or
any difficulty in ascertaining what maxims are m-
• •
stmctIve.
This celebrated question) therefore, becomes in
our system a question of pure curiosit J 3 and as such
we dismiss it to the . detennination of those who are
more ino.uisitive, than- we are concerned to be, about
the nanii-aI histcry and constitution of the bwnae
•
speocs.
-CHAPTER VL
-HUMAN HAPPINESS.
THE word . hopp, is a relative term; that is~
when we call a man happy, we mem- that h~ is happier
tban some others, with whom we comFe him ;
than the generality of others jor than he himself
was in some other situation: thus, to;peaking of one
who has just compassed the object of a long pursriit~
"now," we say, "he is bappy;" and in-a like comparative
senre, compared, that is, with the general lot
of mankind, we call a man happy who possesses health
and competency.
In strictness, any condition may be denominated
happy, in which the amount or aggregat~ of pleasure
exceeds that of pain; and the degree of happiness
depends upon th~ quantity of this excess.
A~ the greatest quantity of it ordinarily attainable
in human life, is what we mean by happiness,
when we . inq.uire or pronounce what humuD happiness
conSISts In.''
• Jf any ptuili'Dt ';gnification,djatinct r .... what we lIJeaD by pleasure, CUI
be affiled to the terDL " hapPiaell,t) I aboaId tab it -to deaote .ccrtaia Idte