Page:Philosophical Review Volume 15.djvu/38

20 for the good of society at large as in those which are dictated by egoism alone.

Again, the essentially social nature of the individual is one of the fundamental principles upon which government is founded. The changes which are constantly taking place in governments, by which small kingdoms consolidate into great empires and great empires divide into small kingdoms, are due, in Hume's opinion, chiefly to the exercise of force. He is much too acute, however, to make this the basis of these governments. "As force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is, therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as the most free and most popular." Opinion is of two kinds: opinion of interest and opinion of right. Opinion of interest is the general belief that the existing government is the most advantageous that could easily be established. Right, again, is of two kinds: right to power and right to property. By opinion of right to power, Hume means the opinion, to which long custom and usage gives rise, that certain persons or institutions possess the right to rule and that all members of society are under an obligation to obey them. Thus men are always prodigal both of blood and treasure in the maintenance of public justice. The apparent contradiction that men in a faction neglect, all ties of honor and morality in order to serve their party, and that a party established on a matter of principle is of all bodies most tenacious of justice, is to be explained by reference to the same social disposition. Hume apparently means that government rests upon the natural docility and pliancy of human nature, which causes men always to follow a leader and to live and act in masses. Men are by nature subject to the influence of those about them; in short, they have a 'social disposition.' They hold their opinions in common. Thus the party, which is a society within the larger total society, is based upon a community of opinion, and this opinion is continually strengthened in the individual by the fact