Sentiment And Morality:An Interpretation And Defense Of Hume’s Moral Philosophy

After the scientific spirit closely with modern sciences’rising, Hume’s moral philosophy strives to establish a general "human" theory on humans’ "perception", "sentiment", and "morality" by the preciseness and demonstration of experiential method from the view of philosophy, so that Hume could correct an error of the extreme rationalism in the research of "humanity" or morality in his time. This makes Hume’s moral philosophy have a double character of experience and rationality in general theory.The core theory of Hume’s moral philosophy could be summarized as such:the "double relation" theory of "impression" and "idea" that is the core of Hume’s "perception" theory, the originally driving theory of "pleasure" and "pain", and the "sympathy" theory that is about how human lives could be available. On this basis, Hume explains particularly the principles and mechanism of "sentiments" and "morality" in human lives, of which Hume’s moral philosophy is mainly consisted.In Hume’s conceiving of moral philosophy research, it is an essential problem that how the occurring with its working mechanism of "morality" could be explained from the view of "sentiments", though it is necessary to do this theoretically by the form of reason, for, after in all, "morality" is in the practice field of our humans, so that the motivation of "morality" is only the energy of "sentiments" of our humans, but not the reason form of this energy of "sentiments". With such a kind of research that has the characters of life flavor and that does not lack the high-degree of a pure theory, Hume’s moral philosophy presents naturally a kind of character of natural existentialism.So the questions that should be studied particularly and systematically are as such:(1) the question of Hume’s "humanity" view; (2) the questions of Hume’s "sentiments" and "sympathy" theories; (3) the question of Hume’s "moral sense" theory; (4) the questions of moral judge of "distinctions" with its ontological questions, which is as the logical continuation of the former question in theory. In the system of Hume’s moral philosophy theory, these four questions have precise logic relations.The leading question of Hume’s moral philosophy is about the discussion of Hume’s moral philosophy in the angle of theoretical understanding view wholly. In Hume’s moral philosophy theory, it is by the theoretical method that the essence content, the theoretical spirit, and the significance could be condensed. Hume’s discussion tells us an universal comprehending by logic and fact, which is that morality is a kind of living, and this kind of living is natural for us human beings.The whole basic framework of Hume’s moral philosophy is about the discussion of Hume’s philosophy theory on general "human nature", which presents as Hume’s theory of "human nature". Hume’s general view of "human nature" and its thinking method can make Hume fix "human nature" to our humans’biologic facts or phenomena which can be commonly observed and tested, which means the biologic facts or phenomena of "perception", "sympathy", and "belief" which can be discussed in their primary meanings. The most essential part of Hume’s moral philosophy theories is the theory of "perception" about the "double relations" between "ideas" and "impressions". Besides, what is of the most fundamental dynamic meaning for "human nature" is Hume’s "sympathy" theory about the primary facts or phenomena of inclining to pleasure and avoiding from pain by the basis of physiologic structures in human beings. According to Hume, on the basis of the above two aspects and their complex interactions, the primary facts or phenomena on "belief" can occur, so that this makes us humans have intelligence of cultures or civilizations that have been developing in a high degree.The theory framework of the specific moral motive power in Hume’s moral philosophy is about Hume’s discussion of the essential dynamic philosophy theory of general "human nature", which presents as Hume’s theory of "passions". This theory of Hume leads directly to the discussion about that how Hume’s "moral sense" theory is possible, and forms the direct theoretical basis of the notion of "moral sense" According to Hume’s discussion, the "sentiments" as "impressions", the "sentiments" as "ideas", the "sentiments" in the "double relations" between "ideas" and "sentiments", and the "sentiments" as "sympathy", form the basic principle that how "sentiments" happen, and the complex interacting relations of feeling and understanding, which is between this basic principle and the mutual relations between the "self" as the subject of "sentiments" and the other-self as "spectators", forms the direct basic frame of Hume’s "moral" theory.The core concepts and the core theory in Hume’s moral philosophy is Hume’s discussion of the philosophy theory in real social practical applications with their meanings about the essential power of general "human nature". According to Hume, the concept of "moral" "sense" that is about feeling has the far-reaching primary dynamic practical meaning. Different kinds of misunderstandings and prejudices that are intertwined with the feeling "sense" of "moral make people ignore the right and suitable relation between "moral" and "reason" by the way of prejudice. But, in the basis of "of human nature" and "of passions", it is just this kind of feeling "sense"of facts basis as well as theory basis that links up our humans’perceptions,reason, and sentiments quietly and textually, so as to make us carry out "moral distinctions". The questions that rise in the "distinctions" of "moral" and that are confounded with the "judges" of "moral" always reject rationally the theory and practice position that the concept of "moral sense" should have. In fact, according to Hume, "moral", "moral sense", and "moral distinctions" have circulatory textual relations actually and logically, in which "reason" only has the meaning of tool as algorithm, and in the meaning of textual circle from one to each other as a wholeness, "moral distinctions" and "moral sense" form the premise basis of each other between them.The theoretical extending of the "moral sense" theory in Hume’s moral philosophy is the "moral distinction" theory of Hume. In further discussion, Hume’s "moral distinction" theory can be understood as Hume’s theory of "moral" "distinction", or can be regarded actually as the theory of judges on "moral" "distinction" by the wat that people usually live their lives under such theory without theoretical understanding of it. That is just about the roughly summed theory of the judge of "distinction" in morality that Hume stated without much clearness, for this formulation that is not very exact links up the right understanding and answer of the ontological question about "is" and "ought" mentioned briefly by Hume. The research here makes it clear that the ontological question about "is" and "ought" is a kind of theoretical inquiring question that rises in the continuity process of from the pure natural attitude to the theoretical attitude, so this ontological question is only an easy question that can be dealt with very good just by properly "distinguishing" forms of the "moral" "distinctions" as judges. The theoretical and practical meaning of this question is just to prove that the "distinctions" as judges of "moral" can’t be carried out by "reason" but "sentiments" in power. The discussion of such ontological questions provides the basis for discussing the motive principle about Hume’s "distinctions" as judges of "moral", and explains that how Hume’s confounding theory contents in moral philosophy can avoid the theoretical fate of spirits’dividing into different parts for different theoretical aims. This motive principle is consisted of the primary motive principle and the extending motive principle, of which the former is about that "motive" is the only primary foundation of "morality" and the latter is about that the moral justice or the effect on the basis of inotive shift is the dynamic foundation of practice in "morality", and these two aspects with their affecting each other explain evidently the complex questions of individual and society in "moral" separately. According to Hume, it is just "motive", the only primary foundation of "morality", that ensures the moral meanings of utility or effect, and the standard of "utility" and the standard of "pleasure" presented by Hume separately point mainly to social morals and individual morals. For Hume, only if a kind of behaviors and activities of humans are in favor of humans’whole or individual living developing, then such is a kind of "virtue", and on the contrary, a kind of "vice".