An Essay on Man/Chapter 2
The CONTENTS.
EPISTLE I.
Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to the Universe.
OF man in the abstract.———That we can judge only with regard to our own system, being ignorant of the relations of systems and things. ver. 17 &c. to 69. That man is not to be deemed imperfect, but a being suited to his place and rank in the creation, agreeable to the general order of things, and conformable to ends and relations to him unknown, 69, &c. That it is partly upon his ignorance of future events, and partly upon the hope of a future state, that all his happiness in the present depends, 73, &c. The pride of aiming at more knowledge, and pretending to more perfection, the cause of man's error and misery. The impiety of putting himself in the place of God, and judging of the fitness or unfitness, perfection or imperfection, justice or injustice of his dispensations. 109 to 120. The absurdity of conceiting himself the final cause of the creation, or expecting that perfection in the moral world which is not in the natural, 127 to 164. The unreasonableness of his complaints against providence, while on the one hand he demands the perfections of the angels, on the other hand the bodily qualifications of the brutes, 165. That to possess any of the sensitive faculties in a higher degree would render him miserable, 181 to 198. That, throughout the whole visible world, an universal order and gradation in the sensual and mental faculties is observed, which causes a subordination of creature to creature, and of all creatures to man. The gradation of sense, instinct, thought, reflexion, reason; that reason alone countervails all the other faculties, 199 to 224. How much farther this order and subordination of living creatures may extend above and below us; were any part of which broken, not that part only, but the whole connected creation must be destroyed. The extravagance, madness and pride of such a desire, 225 to 260. The consequence of all, the absolute submission due to providence, both as to our present and future state, 273, &c.
EPISTLE II.
Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Himself as an individual.
THE business of man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His middle nature; his powers and frailties, and the limits of his capacity, Ver. 43. The two principles of man, self-love and reason, both necessary; self-love the stronger, and why; their end the same, 83. The passions, and their use, 83 to 120. The predominant passion and its force, 122 to 150. its necessity in directing men to different purposes, 153, &c. its providential use, in fixing our principle and ascertaining our virtue, 167. Virtue and vice joined in our mixed nature; the limits near, yet the things separate and evident. What is the office of reason? 187, &c. How odious vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves into it, 209. That, however, the ends of providence and general good are answered in our passions and imperfections, 230, &c. How usefully they are distributed to all orders of men, 233. how useful they are to society, 241. and to the individuals, 253. in every state, and in every age of life, 263, &c.
EPISTLE III.
Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Society.
THE whole universe one system of society, Ver. 7, &c. Nothing is made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another, 27. The happiness of animals mutual, 53. Reason or instinct operate alike to the good of each individual, 83. Reason or instinct operate also to society in all animals, 109. How far society is carried by instinct, 119. how much farther by reason, 132. Of that which is called the state of nature, 148. Reason instructed by instinct in the invention of arts, 150. and in the forms of society, 180. Origin of political societies, 199. Origin of Monarchy, 211. Patriarchal government, 216. Origin of true religion and government, from the same principle of love, 235, &c. Origin of superstition and tyranny, from the same principle of fear, 241, &c. The influence of self-love operating to the social and publick good, 269. Restoration of true religion and government on their first principle, 285. Mixt government, 289. various forms of each, and the true end of all, 303, &c.
EPISTLE IV.
Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Happiness.
HAppiness ill defined by the philosophers, ver. 19. That it is the end of all men, and attainable by all, 28. God governs by general, not particular laws; intends happiness to be equal; and to be so it must be social, since all particular happiness depends on general, 35. As it is necessary for order, and the peace and welfare of society, that external goods should be unequal, happiness is not made to consist in these, 47. But, notwithstanding that inequality, the balance of happiness among mankind is kept even by providence, by the two passions of hope and fear, 66. What the happiness of individuals is, as far as is consistent with the constitution of this world; and that the good man has here the advantage, 76. The error of imputing to virtue what are only the calamities of nature, or of fortune, 92. The folly of expecting God should alter his general laws in favour of particulars, 118. That we are not judges who are good; but that, whoever they are, they must be happiest, 130, &c. That external goods are not the proper rewards, but often inconsistent with, or destructive of virtue, 166. That even these can make no man happy without virtue; instanced in riches, 176. Honours, 184. Birth, 203. Greatness, 213. Fame, 233. Superior talents, 257. with pictures of human infelicity in men possest of them all, 275, &c. That virtue only constitutes a happiness, whose object is universal, and whose prospect eternal, 304, &c. That the perfection of virtue and happiness consists in a conformity to the order of providence here, and a resignation to it here and hereafter, 326, &c.