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

66 Utility.
CH~1PTER VI.
UTILITY.
s 0 the~~tions ar~ to be estimate.d __ bJ their
tendew:.y • .-Whate-yer is exjledient is right. It is
tlieutility of any--inoral rule alone wliicn -constitute~
the obligation of it.
I But to all this there seems a plain. objection, viz.
that many actions are useful, which no man in his
.(
senses will allow t.o be right. There are occasions,
in which the hand of the. assassin \vould u'e very useful.
rrhe present possessor of some grea,t estate employs
his influence and fortune to annoy, cor.rupt, or
His estate would devolve, by
I' .' oppre~s all about him.
') cr.f;;·~is death, to a successo~ of an opposite character. It
i: 18 useful, therefore, to dispatch such a one as soon as
possible but of the way; as the neighbourhood win
change thereby a pernicious tyrant for a wise and
generous benefactor.. It may be u~eful to rob a nli.
ser and give the money to the poor; as the money,
. no doubt, would produce more happiness, by being
laid out in fo04 and clothing for half a dozen distress.
ed families, than by continuing locked up iD'a miser's
chest.
It may be useful to get possession of a place,
a piece of preferment, or of a seat in parliamellt, by
bribery or false swearing; as by means of them we
may serve the public more effectually than in our
private station. '\That then shall we say? Must we
admit these actions to be right, which would be to
• Actions in the abstract are right or wrong, according to their lent/el!.ey;
tlie ageDt is virtuous or vicious, according to his delig". Thus, if the (lues ..
1;011 be, Whether ;elieving common beggars be right or wrong? we inquire
into tbe t,nJeIl&] of such a conduct to the public advantage or inc onvenience.
If the question be, \Vhether a Inall relDarkable for this sort of bounty, is to
be est~emed vinuou8 for that reason? we inquire into his dtlign, whether his
liberality Ifrung from charity or from ostentation? It is evideut. that uur
concern is with actions in the abstracc.