A Preliminary Inquiry Into David Hume's Conception Of Justice

The conception of justice is the essential content of Hume's moral philosophy. But Hume's conception of justice has been subjected to indifference and negligence, which are unsuited for its position among works of studying Hume's moral philosophy in our country. The writer intends to try his best to remedy the defect in this paper.This paper is divided into five parts. In preface ,the writer mainly discussed the important position that the conception of justice is in Hume's moral philosophy, as well as the theoretical and practical significance of studying Hume's conception of justice.In the following three parts, the writer individually dis -cussed Hume's fundamental viewpoint on issues of justice's origin, nature and role , along with his thinking origins and theoretical success or failure.As the revolt to the theory of social contract, the concept that justice takes its rise from human conventions was explicitly advanced by Hume. Hume thought that this convention is not of the nature of a promise .It is only a general,.sense of common interest. Based on this concept, Hume indicated that justice is a constant and perpetual will of giving every one his due. Then Hume further interpreted the subjective and objective circumstances of the origin of justice from the conflict of interests of human society, which is an experiential fact.He said that justice only originates from the selfishness and limited generosity of men, along with the scanty provision nature had made for his wants.Hume's viewpoint with regard to the origin of justice indicates that justice is an artificial virtue, but not a natural virtue .Moreover, in Hume's conception of justice, justice is a changeable and reciprocal virtue. For Hume, justice is only a remedy to the lack of some sublime and scarce virtue, which can't have the primary value given by philosophers such as Aristotle and Rawls.Hume's theory on the objective circumstance of the origin of justice shows that the major problem wiith which justice has been confronted is the unstability and scanty of property we have acquired by good fortune, as well as the confusion and unsafely of society caused by the above reasons. It means that the main role of justice lies in protecting the property right and preserving the social order. In Hume's view, only if people universally observe the three fundamental laws of justice, that of the stability of possession, of its transference by consent, and of the performance of promises, can justice be brought into full play. Hume thought that the government is also an indispensable remedy to the laws of justice in a large society. The ultimate objective of ideal government is to perform the laws of justice and preserve public interests.In the ending, the writer mainly discussed the historic significance and influence of Hume's conception of justice on three aspects.