hume - of-737, książki, Philosphy
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
[TABLE NOT SHOWN][TABLE NOT SHOWN]Copyright 1995, Christopher MacLachlan (cjmm@st-andrews.ac.uk). Seeend note for details on copyright and editing conventions.[1]Editor's note: "Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences"appeared in 1742 in Volume two of Hume's Essays, Moral and Political.The text file here is based on the 1875 Green and Grose edition.Spelling and punctuation have been modernized.---------------------------------------------------------------------Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and SciencesNothing requires greater nicety, in our enquiries concerninghuman affairs, than to distinguish exactly what is owing tochance, and what proceeds from causes; nor is there anysubject, in which an author is more liable to deceive himselfby false subtilties and refinements. To say, that any event isderived from chance, cuts short all farther enquiry concerningit, and leaves the writer in the same state of ignorance withthe rest of mankind. But when the event is supposed to proceedfrom certain and stable causes, he may then display hisingenuity, in assigning these causes; and as a man of anysubtilty can never be at a loss in this particular, he hasthereby an opportunity of swelling his volumes, anddiscovering his profound knowledge, in observing what escapesthe vulgar and ignorant.The distinguishing between chance and causes must depend uponevery particular man's sagacity, in considering everyparticular incident. But, if I were to assign any general ruleto help us in applying this distinction, it would be thefollowing, What depends upon a few persons is, in a greatmeasure, to be ascribed to chance, or secret and unknowncauses: What arises from a great number, may often beaccounted for by determinate and known causes.Two natural reasons may. be assigned for this rule. First, Ifyou suppose a dye to have any biass, however small, to aparticular side, this biass, though, perhaps, it may notappear in a few throws, will certainly prevail in a greatnumber, and will cast the balance entirely to that side. Inlike manner, when any causes beget a particular inclination orpassion, at a certain time, and among a certain people; thoughmany individuals may escape the contagion, and be ruled bypassions peculiar to themselves; yet the multitude willcertainly be seized by the common affection, and be governedby it in all their actions.Secondly, Those principles of causes, which are fitted tooperate on a multitude, are always of a grosser and morestubborn nature, less subject to accidents, and lessinfluenced by whim and private fancy, than those which operateon a few only. The latter are commonly so delicate andrefined, that the smallest incident in the health, education,or fortune of a particular person, is sufficient to diverttheir course, and retard their operation; nor is it possibleto reduce them to any general maxims or observations. Theirinfluence at one time will never assure us concerning theirinfluence at another; even though all the generalcircumstances should be the same in both cases.To judge by this rule, the domestic and the gradualrevolutions of a state must be a more proper subject ofreasoning and observation, than the foreign and the violent,which are commonly produced by single persons, and are moreinfluenced by whim, folly, or caprice, than by generalpassions and interests. The depression of the lords, and riseof the commons in England, after the statutes of alienationand the encrease of trade and industry, are more easilyaccounted for by general principles, than the depression ofthe Spanish, and rise of the French monarchy, after the deathof Charles V. Had Harry IV, Cardinal Richlieu and Louis XIVbeen Spaniards; and Philip II, III, and IV, and Charles IIbeen Frenchmen, the history of these two nations had beenentirely reversed.For the same reason, it is more easy to account for the riseand progress of commerce in any kingdom, than for that oflearning; and a state, which should apply itself to theencouragement of the one, would be more assured of success,than one which should cultivate the other. Avarice, or thedesire of gain, is an universal passion, which operates at alltimes, in all places, and upon all persons: But curiosity, orthe love of knowledge, has a very limited influence, andrequires youth, leisure, education, genius, and example, tomake it govern any person. You will never want booksellers,while there are buyers of books: But there may frequently bereaders where there are no authors. Multitudes of people,necessity and liberty, have begotten commerce in Holland: Butstudy and application have scarcely produced any eminentwriters.We may, therefore, conclude, that there is no subject, inwhich we must proceed with more caution, than in tracing thehistory of the arts and sciences; lest we assign causes whichnever existed, and reduce what is merely contingent to stableand universal principles. Those who cultivate the sciences inany state, are always few in number: The passion, whichgoverns them, limited: Their taste and judgment delicate andeasily perverted: And their application disturbed with thesmallest accident. Chance, therefore, or secret and unknowncauses, must have a great influence on the rise and progressof all the refined arts.But there is a reason, which induces me not to ascribe thematter altogether to chance. Though the persons, who cultivatethe sciences with such astonishing success, as to attract theadmiration of posterity, be always few, in all nations and allages; it is impossible but a share of the same spirit andgenius must be antecedently diffused throughout the peopleamong whom they arise, in order to produce, form, andcultivate, from their earliest infancy, the taste and judgmentof those eminent writers. The mass cannot be altogetherinsipid, from which such refined spirits are extracted. 'Thereis a God within us,' says OVID, 'who breathes that divinefire, by which we are animated.'[2] Poets, in all ages, haveadvanced this claim to inspiration. There is not, however, anything supernatural in the case. Their fire is not kindled fromheaven. It only runs along the earth; is caught from onebreast to another; and burns brightest, where the materialsare best prepared, and most happily disposed. The question,therefore, concerning the rise and progress of the arts andsciences, is not altogether a question concerning the taste,genius, and spirit of a few, but concerning those of a wholepeople; and may, therefore, be accounted for, in some measure,by general causes and principles. I grant, that a man, whoshould enquire, why such a particular poet, as Homer forinstance, existed, at such a place, in such a time, wouldthrow himself headlong into chimaera, and could never treat ofsuch a subject, without a multitude of false subtilties andrefinements. He might as well pretend to give a reason, whysuch particular generals, as Fabius and Scipio, lived in Romeat such a time, and why Fabius came into the world beforeScipio. For such incidents as these, no other reason can begiven than that of Horace:Scit genius, natale comes, qui temperat astrum,Naturae Deus humanae, mortalis in unum......Quodque caput, vultu mutabilis, albus et ater.But I am persuaded, that in many cases good reasons might begiven, why such a nation is more polite and learned at aparticular time, than any of its neighbours. At least, this isso curious a subject, that it were a pity to abandon itentirely, before we have found whether it be susceptible ofreasoning, and can be reduced to any general principles.My first observation on this head is, That it is impossiblefor the arts and sciences to arise, at first, among any peopleunless that people enjoy the blessing of a free government.In the first ages of the world, when men are as yet barbarousand ignorant, they seek no farther security against mutualviolence and injustice, than the choice of some rulers, few ormany, in whom they place an implicit confidence, withoutproviding any security, by laws or political institutions,against the violence and injustice of these rulers. If theauthority be centered in a single person, and if the people,eit...
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]