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Untitled Article
The fourth book relates chiefly to the social and personal virtues . Of this part of the work , however , we have no longer room to give any thing like a detailed account ; and , in fact , it has more the character of ^ a series of detached and desultory observations , than of a systematic or complete view of the subject . In his remarks on the duty of veracity , ' Mr , Stewart , after acknowledging that the obligation to practise it might be inferred fjfom its obvious expediency , is unwilling to rest it solely oh tins foundation *
" Considerations of utility , however , do not seem to be the only ground of the approbation , we bestow on this disposition . Abstracting * from all regard to consequences , there is something pleasing and amiable in sincerity , openness and truth ; something disagreeable and disgusting in duplicity , equivocation and falsehood . That there is in the tinman mind a natural or instinctive principle of veracity , has been remarked by many authors j the same part of our constitution which , prompts to social intercourse , prompting also to sincerity in our mutual communications . "—P . 332 .
That there is in all mankind , at least in all who have been properly educated , a disposition to approve of veracity and to detest falsehood , will be admitted on all hands ; but as it is not necessary , so it is ' unphUosophical , to resortto any instinctive principle to account for it . That it is in a great & ? gT £ fc tfce , r ^ ult of education must be evident from the manner in which it
is . modified , and the great diversities of which it is susceptible in different states of society and in individuals subjected to different influences * The various opinions which have been maintained as to the extent and limits of the duty ot veracity , sufficiently prove that a sense of this duty is not derived solely from any such principle ; and those who attend to the manner in which it is inculcated by direct instruction from the period when a child first begins to be capable of using language at all , to the influence of public
opinion , to the ettect ot the conversation a child continually hears on the subject , the id ^ as of honour , esteem , and admiration , whioh are always connected with the strict observance of this duty , especially in cases where there was a strong temptation to depart from it , and where , consequently , the adherence to veracity implies courage , steady principle , benevolence , or other admirable qualities ; and on the other hand , the disgrace , infamy , and contempt , always attached to the character of a liar , more especially in the society of those who aspire to the rank or reputation of gentlemen , to say nothing of higher and more worthy considerations , will be at no loss to discover a
sufficient variety of elements by the combination of which that highly complex feeling which is excited in the well-principled mind by the observance or neglect of truth , may be gradually formed and matured . The prevalence of this feeling among all classes of men , and in every state of society , is generally appealed to as an argument in favour of the opinion that it is founded on an original and peculiar principle ; but this prevalence , and the remarkable uniformity which , to a considerable extent , is observable in its dictates , may easily be accounted for in other ways ; aad the equally remarkable diversities in the sentiments and conduct of mankind , upon this
point , furnish much more decisive evidence on the other side of the question . In this chapter on veracity we meet with the following remarks on anonymous publications ; which , though we are at this moment practically disregarding them , contain more good sense and sound argument than we would willingly undertake to refute . " Among the various causes which have conspired to relax our moral principles on this important article , the facility which the press affords us in mo-
Untitled Article
Dugald Stewart . 39
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1829, page 39, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2568/page/39/
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