Francis Hutcheson Quotes
Francis Hutcheson was an Irish-born philosopher and the leading figure of the early Scottish Enlightenment. As professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow, he taught the young Adam Smith and shaped the moral-sense tradition that runs through Hume, Smith, and Reid. The quotes below are attributed to Francis Hutcheson, organized by topic.
Browse Francis Hutcheson by topic
Francis Hutcheson on Happiness
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“That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.”
An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725) Treatise II, Section 3
Francis Hutcheson on Knowledge
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“Whence this secret Chain between each Person and Mankind? How is my Interest connected with the most distant Parts of it?”
An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), Treatise II: An Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil, Sect. I -
“Another valuable purpose of ridicule is with relation to smaller vices, which are often more effectually corrected by ridicule, than by grave admonition. Men have been laughed out of faults which a sermon could not reform ; nay, there are many little indecencies which are improper to be mentioned in such solemn discourses. Now ridicule with contempt or ill-nature, is indeed always irritating and o”
Letter to the Author of the Dublin Journal, published in The Dublin Weekly Journal , No. 12 (19 June 1725), p. 46; later published in Reflections Upon Laughter (1750); and in Thoughts upon Laughter, and Observations on the Fable of the Bees (1758), p. 50 -
“The Dublin Weekly Journal , No. 12 (19 June 1725)”
Wikiquote -
“Book II, Ch. III, § I”
A good man deliberating which of several actions proposed he shall choose, regards and compares the material goodness of them, and then is determined by his moral sense invariably preferring that which appears most conducive to the happiness and virtue of mankind.
Francis Hutcheson on Love
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Attributed to Francis Hutcheson:
“Benevolence is natural to us, as much as is self-love.”
Francis Hutcheson on Mind
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“All our Ideas, or the materials of our reasoning or judging, are received by some immediate Powers of Perception internal or external, which we may call Senses … Reasoning or Intellect seems to raise no new Species of Ideas, but to discover or discern the Relations of those received.”
An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections (1728), Treatise II: Illustrations upon the Moral Sense, Sect. I
Francis Hutcheson on Nature
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“An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections (1728), Treatise II: Illustrations upon the Moral Sense, Sect. I”
All our Ideas, or the materials of our reasoning or judging, are received by some immediate Powers of Perception internal or external, which we may call Senses … Reasoning or Intellect seems to raise no new Species of Ideas, but to discover or discern the Relations of those received.
Francis Hutcheson on Truth
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Attributed to Francis Hutcheson:
“Beauty is uniformity amidst variety.”
Francis Hutcheson on Virtue
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“Wisdom is the pursuit of the best ends by the best means.”
An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), Treatise I, Sect. V -
Attributed to Francis Hutcheson:
“The moral sense is the gift of nature, not the construction of reflection.”
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“An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), Treatise I, Sect. V”
Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best Ends by the best Means. -
“An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), Treatise II: An Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil, Sect. I”
Whence this secret Chain between each Person and Mankind? How is my Interest connected with the most distant Parts of it? -
“An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725) Treatise II, Section 3”
That Action is best, which procures the greatest Happiness for the greatest Numbers ; and that worst, which, in like manner, occasions Misery. -
“A good man deliberating which of several actions proposed he shall choose, regards and compares the material goodness of them, and then is determined by his moral sense invariably preferring that which appears most conducive to the happiness and virtue of mankind.”
Book II, Ch. III, § I