Thoughts on Man.txt

Thoughts on Man



His Nature, Productions and Discoveries



Interspersed with Some Particulars



Respecting the Author



by



William Godwin















 Oh, the blood more stirs



To rouse a lion, than to start a hare!







SHAKESPEARE



















LONDON:



EFFINGHAM WILSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE.



1831.







PREFACE







In the ensuing volume I have attempted to give a defined and



permanent form to a variety of thoughts, which have occurred to



my mind in the course of thirty-four years, it being so long



since I published a volume, entitled, the Enquirer,--thoughts,



which, if they have presented themselves to other men, have, at



least so far as I am aware, never been given to the public



through the medium of the press.  During a part of this period I



had remained to a considerable degree unoccupied in my character



of an author, and had delivered little to the press that bore my



name.--And I beg the reader to believe, that, since I entered in



1791 upon that which may be considered as my vocation in life, I



have scarcely in any instance contributed a page to any



periodical miscellany.







My mind has been constitutionally meditative, and I should not



have felt satisfied, if I had not set in order for publication



these special fruits of my meditations.  I had entered upon a



certain career; and I held it for my duty not to abandon it.







One thing further I feel prompted to say.  I have always regarded



it as my office to address myself to plain men, and in clear and



unambiguous terms.  It has been my lot to have occasional



intercourse with some of those who consider themselves as



profound, who deliver their oracles in obscure phraseology, and



who make it their boast that few men can understand them, and



those few only through a process of abstract reflection, and by



means of unwearied application.







To this class of the oracular I certainly did not belong.  I felt



that I had nothing to say, that it should be very difficult to



understand.  I resolved, if I could help it, not to "darken



counsel by words without knowledge."  This was my principle in



the Enquiry concerning Political Justice.  And I had my reward. 



I had a numerous audience of all classes, of every age, and of



either sex.  The young and the fair did not feel deterred from



consulting my pages.







It may be that that book was published in a propitious season.  I



am told that nothing coming from the press will now be welcomed,



unless it presents itself in the express form of amusement.  He



who shall propose to himself for his principal end, to draw aside



in one particular or another the veil from the majesty of



intellectual or moral truth, must lay his account in being



received with little attention.







I have not been willing to believe this:  and I publish my



speculations accordingly.  I have aimed at a popular, and (if I



could reach it) an interesting style; and, if I am thrust aside



and disregarded, I shall console myself with believing that I



have not neglected what it was in my power to achieve.







One characteristic of the present publication will not fail to



offer itself to the most superficial reader.  I know many men who



are misanthropes, and profess to look down with disdain on their



species.  My creed is of an opposite character.  All that we



observe that is best and most excellent in the intellectual



world, is man:  and it is easy to perceive in many cases, that



the believer in mysteries does little more, than dress up his



deity in the choicest of human attributes and qualifications.  I



have lived among, and I feel an ardent interest in and love for,



my brethren of mankind.  This sentiment, which I regard with



complacency in my own breast, I would gladly cherish in others.



In such a cause I am well pleased to enrol myself a missionary.







     February 15, 1831.











The particulars respecting the author, referred to in the



title-page, will be found principally in Essays VII, IX, XIV, and



XVIII.











CONTENTS







Essay. 



I.  Of Body and Mind.  The Prologue 



II.  Of the Distribution of Talents  



III.  Of Intellectual Abortion 



IV.  Of the Durability of Human Achievements and Productions 



V.  Of the Rebelliousness of Man 



VI.  Of Human Innocence  



VII.  Of the Duration of Human Life 



VIII.  Of Human Vegetation 



IX.  Of Leisure  



X.  Of Imitation and Invention 



XI.  Of Self-Love and Benevolence  



XII.  Of the Liberty of Human Actions 



XIII.  Of Belief 



XIV.  Of Youth and Age 



XV.  Of Love and Friendship  



XVI.  Of Frankness and Reserve 



XVII.  Of Ballot 



XVIII.  Of Diffidence  



XIX.  Of Self Complacence  



XX.  Of Phrenology 



XXI.  Of Astronomy 



XXII.  Of the Material Universe 



XXIII.  Of Human Virtue.  The Epilogue











THOUGHTS, &c.











ESSAY I.



OF BODY AND MIND.







THE PROLOGUE.







There is no subject that more frequently occupies the attention



of the contemplative than man:  yet there are many circumstances



concerning him that we shall hardly admit to have been



sufficiently considered.







Familiarity breeds contempt.  That which we see every day and



every hour, it is difficult for us to regard with admiration.  To



almost every one of our stronger emotions novelty is a necessary



ingredient.  The simple appetites of our nature may perhaps form



an exception.  The appetite for food is perpetually renewed in a



healthy subject with scarcely any diminution and love, even the



most refined, being combined with one of our original impulses,



will sometimes for that reason withstand a thousand trials, and



perpetuate itself for years.  In al addressed

to prejudiced persons, who will admit no virtue in the man they hate or

despise. Is it probable that the effect of my fortitude in this act of

unvarying sincerity will be more extensively beneficial to society than

all my future life, however industrious and however pure? Cases might easily

have been put of private animosity, where my generous self-devotion would

scarcely in any instance be heard of. No mistake can be more painful to

an impartial observer than to see an individual of great utility irretrievably

thrown away upon a trivial adventure. It may also be worth remarking that

the most virtuous man that lives is probably guilty of some acts of insincerity

in every day of his life. Though therefore he ought not lightly to add

to the catalogue, yet surely there is something extremely contrary to reason

in finding the same man deviating from a general rule of conduct for the

most trifling and contemptible motives, and immediately after repelling

an additional deviation at the expense of his life. As to the argument

drawn from the uncertainty of the threatened consequences, it must be remembered

that some degree of this uncertainty adheres to all human affairs; and

that all calculation of consequences, or in other words all virtue, depends

upon our adopting the greater probability, and rejecting the less.



<P>No doubt considerable sacrifices (not only of the imbecility of our

character, which ought in all instances to be sacrificed without mercy,

but) of the real advantages of life, ought to be made, for the sake of

preserving, with ourselves and others, a confidence in our veracity. He

who, being sentenced by a court of judicature for some action that he esteems

laudable, is offered the remission of his sentence, provided he will recant

his virtue, ought probably, in every imaginable case, to resist the proposal.

Much seems to depend upon the formality and notoriety of the action. It

may probably be wrong to be minutely scrupulous with a drunke

a systematical hypocrisy, and a vigilant attention lest his features and

gestures should prove so many indications of what is passing in his mind.

Add to this, that by such a conduct he is contributing his part to the

cutting off the intercourse between men's tongues and their sentiments,

infusing general distrust, and trifling with the most sacred pledge of

human integrity. To assert, in a firm and resolute manner, the thing that

is not, is an action from which the human mind unconquerably revolts. To

avow the truth with a spirited defiance of consequences has something in

it so liberal and magnanimous as to produce a responsive feeling in every

human heart. Nor is it to be forgotten that the threatened consequences

can scarcely, in any instance, be regarded as certain. The intrepidity

of his behaviour, the sobriety and dignified moderation of his carriage,

and the reasonableness of his expostulations may be such as to disarm the

bitterest foe.



<P>Let us consider the arguments on the other side of the question. And

here it may be observed that there is nothing really humiliating in the

discharge of our duty. If it can be shown that compliance, in the instance

described, is that which it is incumbent to yield, then, without doubt,

we ought to feel self-approbation, and not censure in the yielding it.

There are many duties which the habits of the world make us feel it humiliating

to discharge, as well as many vices in which we pride ourselves; but this

is the result of prejudice, and ought to be corrected. Whatever it be that

our duty requires of us, the man who is sufficiently enlightened will feel

no repugnance to the performance. As to the influence of our conduct upon

other men, no doubt, s...