A Treatise of Human Nature · Chapter
Section X: Of Respect and Contempt explained
Hume explains the passions of respect and contempt as mixtures of love/humility and hatred/pride, arising from a comparison with ourselves.
What happens
Hume explains the passions of respect and contempt as mixtures of love/humility and hatred/pride, arising from a comparison with ourselves. He notes that pride is more prevalent in contempt than humility in respect, and addresses why some objects produce pure love or hatred rather than mixed passions. He also accounts for the tendency to keep distance from those we contemn, linking it to the natural uneasiness caused by disproportion and the metaphorical connection between distance and difference.
Themes in this chapter
Passions and the Self
Explores how respect and contempt are formed through comparison with oneself, involving pride and humility.
Sympathy and Social Influence
Discusses how the presence of others and social distance affect the passions of respect and contempt.
Characters to notice
- David Hume
Author of the section, presenting his analysis of respect and contempt.
Key passages
“The good qualities of others, from the first point of view, produce love; from the second, humility; and from the third, respect; which is a mixture of these two passions.”
When we consider others' good qualities directly, we feel love; when we compare them to our own, we feel humility; and when we do both, we feel respect, which combines love and humility.
Hume outlines the three perspectives that give rise to different passions.
“Contempt or scorn has so strong a tincture of pride, that there scarce is any other passion discernible: Whereas in esteem or respect, love makes a more considerable ingredient than humility.”
Contempt is mostly pride, while respect contains more love than humility.
Hume observes the asymmetric mixture of passions in contempt and respect.
“Nothing invigorates and exalts the mind equally with pride and vanity; though at the same time love or tenderness is rather found to weaken and enfeeble it.”
Pride and vanity energize the mind, whereas love and tenderness tend to weaken it.
Hume contrasts the effects of different passions on the mind's vigor.