Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/232

 from human Conventions. For if it be allow'd (what is, indeed, evident) that the particular Consequences of a particular Act of Justice may be hurtful to the Public as well as to Individuals; it follows, that every Man, in embracing that Virtue, must have an Eye to the whole Plan or System, and must expect the Concurrence of his Fellows in the same Conduct and Behaviour. Were all his Views to terminate in the particular Consequences of each particular Act of his own, his Benevolence and Humanity, as well as Self-love, might often prescribe to him Measures of Conduct very different from those, which are agreeable to the strict Rules of Right and Justice.

two Men pull the Oars of a Boat, by common Convention, for common Interest, without any Promise or Contract: Thus Gold and Silver are made the Measures of Exchange; thus Speech and Words and Language are fixt, by human Convention and Agreement. Whatever is advantageous to two or more Persons, if all perform their Part; but what loses all Advantage, if only one perform, can arise from no other Principle. There would otherwise be no Motive for any one of them to enter into that Scheme of Conduct.