The Function of Reason in the Moral Sphere

Abstract

HUME’S doctrine of morals has a twofold aspect, negative and positive. Negatively stated, it is the doctrine that reason is incapable of determining the distinction between good and evil. Positively stated, it is the doctrine that moral good and evil are determined for us by the sentiments of approval and disapproval which Nature has caused to arise in us upon the contemplation of this or that action or situation. His main task, as he conceives it, is to define precisely how the positive and the negative aspects of his doctrine stand related to one another.