《道德原则研究·第八章·论直接令他人愉快的品质》第3节
Men have, in general, a much greater propensity to overvalue than undervalue themselves; notwithstanding the opinion of Aristotle . This makes us more jealous of the excess on the former side, and causes us to regard, with a peculiar indulgence, all tendency to modesty and self-diffidence; as esteeming the danger less of falling into any vicious extreme of that nature. It is thus in countries where men's bodies are apt to exceed in corpulency, personal beauty is placed in a much greater degree of slenderness, than in countries where that is the most usual defect. Being so often struck with instances of one species of deformity, men think they can never keep at too great a distance from it, and wish always to have a leaning to the opposite side. In like manner, were the door opened to self-praise, and were Montaigne's maxim observed, that one should say as frankly, I Have sense, I Have learning, I Have courage, beauty, Or Wit, as it is sure we often think so; were this the case, I say, every one is sensible that such a flood of impertinence would break in upon us, as would render society wholly intolerable. For this reason custom has established it as a rule, in common societies, that men should not indulge themselves in self-praise, or even speak much of themselves; and it is only among intimate friends or people of very manly behaviour, that one is allowed to do himself justice. Nobody finds fault with Maurice, Prince of Orange, for his reply to one who asked him, whom he esteemed the first general of the age, The marquis Of SPINOLA, said he, Is The second. Though it is observable, that the self-praise implied is here better implied, than if it had been directly expressed, without any cover or disguise.
注释摘要
休谟在这一段要处理一个表面上的不对称：自视过高与谦逊自抑，两者在道德情感中的待遇截然不同。他给出的解释不是来自理性推理的训诫，而是从人性中一种普遍倾向出发，一路推到社会习俗如何塑造我们的赞许。 他从一个观察入手：人们普遍更倾向于高估自己，而非低估自己。休谟特意提到，这与亚里士多德的看法相反——亚里士多德在《尼各马可伦理学》里谈过“自爱”的正当程度，但休谟在…