A Treatise of Human Nature · Chapter
Section VII: Of Compassion explained
Hume examines the passions of pity and malice, arguing that they are not original instincts but secondary affections derived from the principle of sympathy.
What happens
Hume examines the passions of pity and malice, arguing that they are not original instincts but secondary affections derived from the principle of sympathy. He explains that our concern for others arises from a lively idea of their passions, which is converted into an impression due to our resemblance to all humans. Pity is particularly influenced by contiguity and the imagination, and it can be intensified by the weakness or indifference of the sufferer, as the imagination follows general rules rather than the actual situation.
Themes in this chapter
Sympathy and Social Influence
Hume argues that pity and malice are not original instincts but arise from sympathy, the mechanism by which we share the passions of others.
Custom and General Rules
The imagination is influenced by general rules from experience, leading us to feel compassion even when the sufferer is indifferent, as we overlook the exception and follow the usual connection.
Characters to notice
- David Hume
Author and narrator, presenting the argument that pity and malice are secondary passions derived from sympathy.
Key passages
“Pity is a concern for, and malice a joy in the misery of others, without any friendship or enmity to occasion this concern or joy.”
Pity is feeling sorrow for others' suffering, and malice is taking pleasure in it, even when we have no personal connection or grudge against them.
Hume defines pity and malice as general emotional responses not tied to specific relationships.
“We have a lively idea of everything related to us. All human creatures are related to us by resemblance.”
Because we are all similar as humans, we form vivid ideas of others' experiences, which then turn into our own feelings.
This explains the mechanism of sympathy: resemblance makes others' passions vivid to us.
“A spectator of a tragedy passes through a long train of grief, terror, indignation, and other affections, which the poet represents in the persons he introduces.”
When watching a tragedy, the audience experiences a sequence of emotions that the characters portray, showing how sympathy transmits all passions.
Hume uses the example of theater to illustrate that all passions are communicated through sympathy, not just a few.
“Thus when a person obtains any honourable office, or inherits a great fortune, we are always the more rejoiced for his prosperity, the less sense he seems to have of it, and the greater equanimity and indifference he shows in its enjoyment.”
We feel more joy for someone's good fortune when they remain calm and unimpressed by it, because our imagination follows the general rule that such fortune usually brings happiness.
This is a key example of how sympathy can be strengthened by the sufferer's indifference, due to the influence of general rules.
“It is an aggravation of a murder, that it was committed upon persons asleep and in perfect security; as historians readily observe of any infant prince, who is captive in the hands of his enemies, that he is the more worthy of compassion the less sensible he is of his miserable condition.”
Murder is worse if the victim is unaware, and a captive prince is more pitied if he doesn't realize his danger, because our imagination contrasts their security with their actual misery.
Hume uses this to show that pity is enhanced by the contrast between the sufferer's indifference and the gravity of their situation.