Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/134

 us suppose a Person originally so fram'd as to have no Manner of Concern for his Fellow creatures, but to regard the Happiness and Misery of all sensible Beings with greater Indifference even than two contiguous Shades of the same Colour. Let us suppose, if the Prosperity of Nations were lay'd on the one hand and their Ruin on the other, and he were desir'd to choose; that he would stand, like the Schoolman's Ass, irresolute and undetermin'd, betwixt equal Motives; or rather, like the same Ass betwixt two Pieces of Wood or Marble, without any Inclination or Propensity on either Side. The Consequence, I believe, must be allow'd just, that such a Person, being absolutely unconcern'd, either as to the public Good of a Community or the private Utility of others, would look on every Quality, however pernicious, or however beneficial, to Society or to its Possessor, with the same Indifference as on the most common and uninteresting Object.

if, instead of this fancy'd Monster, we suppose a Man to form a Judgment or Determination in