CHAPTERX
OFSELF-LOVEANDBENEVOLENCE
Thesubjectofthemechanismofthehumanmind，istheobviouscounterpartofthatwhichwearenowtoexamine。Undertheformerofthesetopicswehaveentered，withconsiderableminuteness，intothenatureofourinvoluntaryactions；thedecisionofthelatterwill，inagreatdegree，dependuponanaccurateconceptionofsuchasarevoluntary。Thequestionofself-loveandbenevolence，isaquestionrelativetothefeelingsandideasbywhichweoughttobegoverned，inourintercoursewithourfellowmen，or，inotherwords，inourmoralconduct。Butitisuniversallyadmitted，thattherecanbenomoralconduct，thatwecanbeneithervirtuousnorvicious，exceptininstanceswhereouractionsflowfromintention，andaredirectedbyforesight，orwheretheymighthavebeensodirected；andthisisthedefinitionofvoluntaryactions。1*Thequestionthereforeofself-loveandbenevolence，isaquestionofvoluntaryaction。
Theenquiryhereproposed，isthesameineffect，asthequestion，whetherwearecapableofbeinginfluencedbydisinterestedconsiderations。Onceadmitthatweare，anditwillnotbedisputedthatitisbysuchconsiderationsweoughttobeinfluenced，incaseswhereourneighbourorthepublicistobeeminentlybenefited。
Thisquestionhasbeenlongandeagerlycontested，andthemajorityofpersonswhoareaccustomedtogivesomeattentiontospeculationsofthissort，haverangedthemselvesonthesideofself-love。AmongtheFrench，notasinglewriteruponthatnatureofthehumanmind，istobefound，whodoesnot，withmoreorlessexplicitness，declareforthishypothesis。