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est, considered as parts of our mental economy, they have their important uses, in connex.on with the laws and re quirements of our physical nature.-"The appetites of hunger and thirst," says Stewart, "were intended for the preservation of the individual; and without them reason would have been insufficient for this important purpose, Suppose, for example, that the appetite of hunger had been no part of our constitution, reason and experience might have satisfied us of the necessity of food to our preservation; but how should we have been able, without an implanted principle, to ascertain, according to the varying state of our animal economy, the proper seasons for eating, or the quantity of food that is salutary to the body? The lower animals not only receive this information from nature, but are, moreover, directed by instinct to the particular sort of food that it is proper for them to use in health and in sickness. The senses of taste and smell, in the savage state of our species, are subservient, at least in some degree, to the same purpose.

"Our appetites can with no propriety be called selfish, for they are directed to their respective objects as ultimate ends, and they must all have operated, in the first instance, prior to any experience of the pleasure arising from their gratification. After this experience, indeed, the desire of enjoyment will naturally come to be combined with the appetite; and it may sometimes lead us to stimulate or provoke the appetite with a view to the pleasure which is to result from indulging it. Imagination, too, and the association of ideas, together with the social affections, and sometimes the moral faculty, lend their aid, and all conspire together in forming a complex passion, in which the animal appetite is only one ingredient. In proportion as this passion is gratified, its influence over the conduct becomes the more irresistible, (for all the active determi nations of our nature are strengthened by habit,) till at last we struggle in vain against its tyranny. A man so enslaved by his animal appetites exhibits humanity in one of its most miserable and contemptible forms."*

$318. Of the prevalence and origin of appetites for intoxicating drugs. There are not only natural appetites, but artificial or • Stewart's Philosophy of the Moral and Active Powers, bk i., ch. i

acquired ones. It is no uncommon thing to find persons who have formed an appetite for ardent spirits, for tobacco, for opium, and intoxicating drugs of various kinds. It is a matter of common remark, that the appetite for inebriating liquors, in particular, is very prevalent, espe cially among Savage tribes. And it may be proper briefly tribes.—And to explain the origin of such appetites.

Such drugs and liquors as have been referred to have the power of stimulating the nervous system, and by means of this excitement they cause a degree of pleasure. This pleasurable excitement is soon followed by a corresponding degree of languor and depression, to obtain relief from which resort is again had to the intoxicating draught or drug. This results not only in a restoration, but an exhilaration of spirits; which is again followed by depression and distress. And thus resort is had, time after time, to the strong drink, the tobacco, the opium, or whatever it is which intoxicates, until an appetite is formed so strong as to subdue, lead captive, and brutalize the subject of it. So that the only way to avoid the forming of such a habit, after the first erroneous step has been taken, is quietly to endure the subsequent unhappiness attendant on the pleasurable excitement of intoxication, till the system has time to recover itself, and to throw off its wretchedness by its own efforts.

§ 319. Of the twofold operation and the morality of the appetites. In accordance with the remarks in the last section in the chapter on the Nature of desires, we may add here the general statement, that the operation of all the Appetites, of whatever kind, is twofold, INSTINCTIVE and VOLUNTARY. So far as they are directed to their objects as ultimate ends, without taking into consideration anything else, their operation is obviously analogous to that of the pure instincts. But after the first instance of their gratification, they may be instigated to subsequent action, not so much by a view of the ultimate object as of the pleasure accessory to its acquisition. And thus it sometimes happens, that their action, in view of the enjoyment before them, is turbulent and violent. Nevertheless, we may avail ourselves of the aid of other principles of the mind

to subject them to a degree of restraint, to regulate, and, in a certain sense, to cultivate them. And, so far as this can be done, they are obviously susceptible of what may be called a vOLUNTARY action.

And here is the basis of the morality of the appetites. So far as they are susceptible of a merely instinctive action, they cannot be said to possess any moral character, either good or bad. They are greatly useful in their place; but, in a moral point of view, are to be regarded simply as innocent. It is only so far as they are voluntary, so far as they can be reached and controlled by the will, that they can, by any possibility, be morally good or evil, virtuous or vicious. So that virtue and vice, considered in relation to the appetites, is located, not in the appetites themselves in their intrinsic nature, but in their exercises; and in those exercises only which are subor dinate to the influence of the will.

CHAPTER IV.

PROPENSITIES.

§ 320. General remarks on the nature of the propensities.

As we advance further in the examination of this por tion of the natural or pathematic sensibilities, we meet with certain forms of Desire which are different from any we have hitherto attended to, and which accordingly require a distinct consideration. There is certainly no danger of their being confounded with the Instincts, inasmuch as they do not exhibit that fixedness and inflexibleness of action which is usually characteristic of those states of mind. They differ from the Appetites also, first, because they are much less dependent for their existence and exercise upon the condition of the body; and, secondly, because in that comparative estimation which is naturally attached to the different active principles of our nature, they confessedly hold a higher rank. At the same time they evidently, in the grailuation of our

regard, fall below the Affections, besides being distinguished from them in some other respects. Hence we may, with entire propriety, not only assign them a separate and distinct position, but shall find a convenience in designating them by a distinctive name.-Among the Propensities (for this is the name which we propose to attach to them) may be mentioned the principle of self preservation, or the desire of continued existence; curiosity, or the desire of knowledge; sociality, or the desire of society; self-love, or the desire of happiness; the desire of esteem, the propensity to imitate, and some others.

Although we have briefly indicated some of the circumstances which separate the Propensities from the oth er leading principles coming under this general head, it will be noticed that we have not attempted to give a statement of what they are in themselves. It is true, they are all based upon desire, and they all have some object. But whatever is intrinsic or specifically characteristic in their nature will be best learned from the considerations that will necessarily arise, as they pass successively under review.

321. Principle of self-preservation, or the desire of continued existence

The first of those original desires which we shall proceed to notice may be denominated the principle of SELFPRESERVATION, or the desire of a continuance of existence. -The proof of the existence of such a desire is not only abundant in what we see around us, but is so intimate also to our own consciousness, that it can hardly be necessary to enter into details. "All that a man hath will he give for his life," was a sort of moral axiom in the earliest antiquity; and it stands as little in need of the verification of proof now as it did then. It is true that the principle may, in its practical operation, be overcome by the ascendant influence of other principles, by the mere desire of esteem, by the love of country, or by the sentiments of duty; but, although annulled in its results, it can hardly be said to be extinct in its nature. It still lingers, unextinguished and unextinguishable, in the foundations and depths of the mind. Even in cases of suicide, the desire of the extinction of life which is sup

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posed to exist is not absolute but relative; the self-mur derer would still cling to existence if it could be possess ed separate from the evils which attend it; it is not life in itself considered, which he hates, but the variety of un. pleasant circumstances, either actual or imagined, which are connected with it.

§ 322. Of the twofold action of the principle of self-preservation.

The principle of self-preservation, or desire of the continuance of existence, as well as the appetites, has a twofold operation, viz., INSTINCTIVE and VOLUNTARY. These two aspects or methods of its operation are to be carefully distinguished from each other. The instinctive operation takes place when life is threatened or endangered on some sudden and unexpected emergencies. When a person is in danger of falling, he instinctively puts forth his hand to sustain himself; when a blow is suddenly aimed at him, he instinctively makes an effort to ward it off; and the operation of this instinctive form of the desire is exceedingly rapid as well as effective. This instinctive action is highly important in all cases where an effort for self-. preservation, based upon inquiry and reasoning, would come too late.-When the exercise of the desire under consideration exists in connexion with inquiry and reasoning, and, of course, is ultimately based upon decisions of the will, it is said to be VOLUNTARY. It is under the suggestions of this form of the principle in question that we are led to make all those prospective calculations and efforts which have particular reference to the continuance and protection of life. In either point of view, whether considered as instinctive or voluntary, it is a principle evidently adapted with great wisdom to man's situation and wants. It is practically a powerful motive to action; and in its voluntary exercise is always morally good, so far as it exists in entire conformity with the requisitions of an unperverted conscience.

323. Of curiosity, or the desire of knowledge.

Another of the leading Propensive principles is CURIUзITY, or the desire of knowledge; in respect to which it scarcely admits of a doubt, that it is to be regarded as

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