OF THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF PHILOSOPHY.
1. Moral philosophy, or the science of human nature, may
be treated
after two different manners; each of which has its
peculiar merit, and
may contribute to the entertainment, instruction, and
reformation of
mankind. The one considers man chiefly as born for
action; and as
influenced in his measures by taste and sentiment;
pursuing one object,
and avoiding another, according to the value which these
objects seem to
possess, and according to the light in which they
present themselves. As
virtue, of all objects, is allowed to be the most
valuable, this species
of philosophers paint her in the most amiable colours;
borrowing all
helps from poetry and eloquence, and treating their
subject in an easy
and obvious manner, and such as is best fitted to please
the
imagination, and engage the affections. They select the
most striking
observations and instances from common life; place
opposite characters
in a proper contrast; and alluring us into the paths of
virtue by the
views of glory and happiness, direct our steps in these
paths by the
soundest precepts and most illustrious examples. They
make us _feel_ the
difference between vice and virtue; they excite and
regulate our
sentiments; and so they can but bend our hearts to the
