《道德原则研究·第四章·论政治社会》第2节
In a confederated commonwealth, such as the Achaean republic of old, or the Swiss Cantons and United Provinces in modern times; as the league has here a peculiar Utility, the conditions of union have a peculiar sacredness and authority, and a violation of them would be regarded as no less, or even as more criminal, than any private injury or injustice. The long and helpless infancy of man requires the combination of parents for the subsistence of their young; and that combination requires the virtue of chastity or fidelity to the marriage bed. Without such a Utility, it will readily be owned, that such a virtue would never have been thought of. [休谟自注] The only solution, which Plato gives to all the objections that might be raised against the community of women, established in his imaginary commonwealth, is, . Scite enim istud et dicitur et dicetur, Id quod utile sit honestum esse, quod autem inutile sit turpe esse. . And this maxim will admit of no doubt, where public utility is concerned, which is Plato's meaning. And indeed to what other purpose do all the ideas of chastity and modesty serve? "Nisi utile est quod facimus, frustra est gloria," says Phaedrus. , says Plutarch, de vitioso pudore. "Nihil eorum quae damnosa sunt, pulchrum est." The same was the opinion of the Stoics . An infidelity of this nature is much more pernicious in women than in Men. Hence the laws of chastity are much stricter over the one sex than over the other. These rules have all a reference to generation; and yet women past child-bearing are no more supposed to be exempted from them than those in the flower of their youth and beauty. General rules are often extended beyond the principle whence they first arise; and this in all matters of taste and sentiment. It is a vulgar story at Paris, that, during the rage of the Mississippi, a hump-backed fellow went every day into the Rue de Quincempoix, where the stock-jobbers met in great crowds, and was well paid for allowing them to make use of his hump as a desk, in order to sign their contracts upon it. Would the fortune, which he raised by this expedient, make him a handsome fellow; though it be confessed, that personal beauty arises very much from ideas of utility? The imagination is influenced by associations of ideas; which, though they arise at first from the judgement, are not easily altered by every particular exception that occurs to us. To which we may add, in the present case of chastity, that the example of the old would be pernicious to the young; and that women, continually foreseeing that a certain time would bring them the liberty of indulgence, would naturally advance that period, and think more lightly of this whole duty, so requisite to society.
注释摘要
休谟在这一段里做了一个典型的效用论证推进。他从邦联这种政治社会形式出发，指出亚该亚共和国、瑞士各州、尼德兰联合省这类同盟之所以存在，唯一的理由就是联盟本身带来了特殊的效用。正因如此，联盟的条款才获得一种特殊的庄严性和权威；破坏盟约，在人们看来，其罪过不亚于、甚至可能超过对私人的侵害或不义。这里的关键是休谟在把一个政治层面的观察推到一个更普遍的道德心理原则上…