Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.What he wanted therefore, it seems, was not so much this conveniency,as that arrangement of things which promotes it.Yet it is this conveniency whichultimately recommends that arrangement, and bestows upon it the whole of itspropriety and beauty.A watch, in the same manner, that falls behind above two minutes in a day, is5despised by one curious in watches.He sells it perhaps for a couple of guineas,and purchases another at fifty, which will not lose above a minute in a fortnight.The sole use of watches however, is to tell us what o clock it is, and to hinder usfrom breaking any engagement, or suffering any other inconveniency by our igno-rance in that particular point.But the person so nice with regard to this machine,will not always be found either more scrupulously punctual than other men, ormore anxiously concerned upon any other account, to know precisely what timeof day it is.What interests him is not so much the attainment of this piece ofknowledge, as the perfection of the machine which serves to attain it.How many people ruin themselves by laying out money on trinkets of frivolous6utility? What pleases these lovers of toys is not so much the utility, as the aptnessof the machines which are fitted to promote it.All their pockets are stuffed withlittle conveniencies.They contrive new pockets, unknown in the clothes of otherpeople, in order to carry a greater number.They walk about loaded with a mul-titude of baubles, in weight and sometimes in value not inferior to an ordinaryJew s-box, some of which may sometimes be of some little use, but all of whichIV.1 161The Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smithmight at all times be very well spared, and of which the whole utility is certainlynot worth the fatigue of bearing the burden.Nor is it only with regard to such frivolous objects that our conduct is in-7fluenced by this principle; it is often the secret motive of the most serious andimportant pursuits of both private and public life.The poor man s son, whom heaven in its anger has visited with ambition,8when he begins to look around him, admires the condition of the rich.He findsthe cottage of his father too small for his accommodation, and fancies he shouldbe lodged more at his ease in a palace.He is displeased with being obliged to walka-foot, or to endure the fatigue of riding on horseback.He sees his superiors car-ried about in machines, and imagines that in one of these he could travel with lessinconveniency.He feels himself naturally indolent, and willing to serve himselfwith his own hands as little as possible; and judges, that a numerous retinue of ser-vants would save him from a great deal of trouble.He thinks if he had attained allthese, he would sit still contentedly, and be quiet, enjoying himself in the thoughtof the happiness and tranquillity of his situation.He is enchanted with the distantidea of this felicity.It appears in his fancy like the life of some superior rank ofbeings, and, in order to arrive at it, he devotes himself for ever to the pursuit ofwealth and greatness.To obtain the conveniencies which these afford, he submitsin the first year, nay in the first month of his application, to more fatigue of bodyand more uneasiness of mind than he could have suffered through the whole of hislife from the want of them.He studies to distinguish himself in some laboriousprofession.With the most unrelenting industry he labours night and day to acquiretalents superior to all his competitors.He endeavours next to bring those talentsinto public view, and with equal assiduity solicits every opportunity of employ-ment.For this purpose he makes his court to all mankind; he serves those whomhe hates, and is obsequious to those whom he despises.Through the whole ofhis life he pursues the idea of a certain artificial and elegant repose which he maynever arrive at, for which he sacrifices a real tranquillity that is at all times in hispower, and which, if in the extremity of old age he should at last attain to it, hewill find to be in no respect preferable to that humble security and contentmentwhich he had abandoned for it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Linki